This CISM practice question tests your understanding of incident management. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
An organization uses a SIEM to correlate security events. The SIEM generates an alert for a possible brute-force attack against an admin account. The incident response team reviews the alert and finds that the account is a service account with a known password. What should the team do NEXT?
Notify the service owner
Why wrong: Notification is important but not the immediate next step.
Disable the service account
Why wrong: Disabling may disrupt services; changing password is less disruptive.
Investigate the source IP addresses
Why wrong: Investigation can follow, but immediate action is to secure the account.
Change the password for the service account
Changing the password invalidates the attacker's attempts.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Change the password for the service account
The correct next step is to change the password for the service account because the alert indicates a possible brute-force attack, and a known password represents a compromised credential. Even if the account is a service account, the password must be rotated to prevent unauthorized access. This aligns with the incident response principle of containing the threat by invalidating the compromised authentication factor.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
Notify the service owner
Why it's wrong here
Notification is important but not the immediate next step.
Disable the service account
Why it's wrong here
Disabling may disrupt services; changing password is less disruptive.
Investigate the source IP addresses
Why it's wrong here
Investigation can follow, but immediate action is to secure the account.
Change the password for the service account
Why this is correct
Changing the password invalidates the attacker's attempts.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates confuse a service account with a user account and choose to investigate the source IP addresses first, forgetting that containment (password change) must precede investigation when a known credential is involved.
Detailed technical explanation
Service accounts often have non-expiring or rarely rotated passwords, making them high-value targets for attackers. In Windows environments, service accounts may be configured with 'Log on as a service' rights and stored in the Local Security Authority (LSA) secrets, which can be dumped using tools like Mimikatz. Changing the password requires coordination with the service owner to update the credential in the Service Control Manager (SCM) or the application's configuration store, but this is a necessary containment step to prevent lateral movement or privilege escalation.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A practitioner preparing for the CISM exam encounters this exact type of scenario on the job. The correct answer here is not the most general option — it is the best answer for the specific constraint described. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Real exam questions reward reading the full scenario before eliminating options, because the constraint defines which answer fits.
What to study next
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FAQ
Incident Management — This question tests Incident Management — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Change the password for the service account — The correct next step is to change the password for the service account because the alert indicates a possible brute-force attack, and a known password represents a compromised credential. Even if the account is a service account, the password must be rotated to prevent unauthorized access. This aligns with the incident response principle of containing the threat by invalidating the compromised authentication factor.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
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.
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