CISM Incident Management Practice Question
During a major incident, the incident response team discovers that the incident cannot be resolved within the maximum tolerable downtime (MTD). Which of the following actions should be taken next?
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
✓
Escalate to activate the business continuity and disaster recovery plans
When an incident cannot be resolved within the MTD, it triggers the transition to business continuity and disaster recovery (BC/DR) plans to maintain critical operations.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Continue incident response efforts until resolution regardless of time
Why it's wrong here
If MTD is exceeded, continuing without activating BC/DR may cause unacceptable business impact.
- ✗
Declare the incident a disaster and shut down all systems
Why it's wrong here
Shutting down all systems may not be necessary; BC/DR activation may involve failover to alternate sites.
- ✗
Notify the insurance provider immediately
Why it's wrong here
Insurance notification is important but not the immediate step when MTD is exceeded.
- ✓
Escalate to activate the business continuity and disaster recovery plans
Why this is correct
Escalating to BC/DR activation is the correct action when the incident cannot be resolved within MTD.
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JA
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.