CISM Incident Management Practice Question
An organization's incident response plan includes playbooks for different incident types. Which playbook should be used for an incident involving unauthorized access to a user's account due to phishing?
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
✓
Credential compromise playbook
Credential compromise incidents, such as account takeover via phishing, are handled by the credential compromise playbook.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
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Data breach playbook
Why it's wrong here
Data breach playbooks handle confirmed exposure of regulated or sensitive data, including notification duties. A phished account alone may not yet involve data exfiltration, so invoking this playbook prematurely skips the account-compromise containment steps—credential reset, session revocation, mailbox rule removal—that the phishing playbook prescribes.
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Ransomware playbook
Why it's wrong here
Ransomware playbooks cover encryption of files or systems with extortion demands, including isolation and recovery from backups. Phishing that yields unauthorised account access involves credential compromise, not encryption, so the ransomware playbook's containment and restoration procedures do not match the incident's actual mechanism.
- ✓
Credential compromise playbook
Why this is correct
Phishing that yields unauthorised account access is credential compromise, so the credential compromise playbook prescribes password resets, session revocation, MFA enforcement and account monitoring. A malware or data breach playbook would not address the stolen-credential vector that enabled the intrusion.
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Insider threat playbook
Why it's wrong here
Insider threat playbooks address misuse by authorised employees or contractors, such as data exfiltration or privilege abuse. Phishing-driven account compromise originates from an external actor, so the insider threat playbook's containment and investigation steps target the wrong threat vector and actor.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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.