CISM Incident Management Practice Question
An organization has experienced a ransomware attack that has encrypted critical servers and is causing major business disruption. According to incident severity levels, which priority should this incident be assigned?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap is underestimating the severity of a ransomware attack on critical servers, leading candidates to choose P2 or P3 instead of recognizing the major business disruption as P1.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
P1 — Critical
A ransomware attack that encrypts critical servers and causes major business disruption is a critical incident, warranting a P1 priority. P1 incidents are reserved for those with severe impact on business operations, requiring immediate response and escalation. The encryption of critical servers directly threatens the organization's ability to operate, making P1 the appropriate severity level.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
P2 — High
Why it's wrong here
P2 covers high-impact incidents affecting important systems, but ransomware encrypting critical servers with major business disruption meets the P1 criteria for a crisis-level event requiring immediate response. It would suit a serious but contained incident with workarounds available.
- ✗
P4 — Low
Why it's wrong here
P4 is reserved for negligible incidents with no business impact, so it cannot reflect encrypted critical servers causing major disruption. It is tempting when triaging low-severity alerts such as isolated malware on a non-critical endpoint, where routine handling suffices.
- ✓
P1 — Critical
Why this is correct
P1 Critical is reserved for incidents causing major business disruption, such as encrypted critical servers halting operations. It triggers immediate escalation, full crisis team activation and continuous response until resolved, matching the severity criteria stated in the stem.
- ✗
P3 — Medium
Why it's wrong here
P3 — Medium suits incidents with limited, contained impact and a workaround available. Ransomware encrypting critical servers halts business operations, which meets the P1 — Critical threshold for severe disruption. P3 would fit a single non-critical workstation infection that is isolated and recoverable without operational loss.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
One of 924 original CISM practice questions on Courseiva, each with a full explanation and wrong-answer analysis — not exam dumps or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official ISACA exam blueprint
This CISM practice question is part of Courseiva's free ISACA certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the CISM exam.