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CISM Practice Question: During a merger, the acquiring company's board…
During a merger, the acquiring company's board insists on integrating the target company's information security governance into its own within 90 days. However, the target has a significantly different risk culture and lacks documented policies. What is the most critical governance risk in this scenario?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse operational or cultural challenges (like training capacity or employee resistance) with governance-level risks, but the CISM exam emphasizes that governance is about the board's duty to ensure risk visibility and informed decision-making, not execution details.
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
✓
The acquiring company may inadvertently accept unknown high-risk exposures.
The most critical governance risk is that the acquiring company may inadvertently inherit unknown high-risk exposures from the target company. Without documented policies and a compatible risk culture, the target's security posture is opaque, meaning the acquirer cannot assess or control inherited vulnerabilities, compliance gaps, or threat vectors. This violates the core governance principle of risk visibility and could lead to material breaches or regulatory penalties post-merger.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
The acquiring company's security team may lack the capacity to train the target's staff.
Why it's wrong here
Training is important but not the most critical governance risk at this stage.
- ✗
The target's employees may resist the new security culture.
Why it's wrong here
Culture is a concern but the most critical risk is accepting unknown risks.
- ✓
The acquiring company may inadvertently accept unknown high-risk exposures.
Why this is correct
Rushing integration without understanding the target's risk posture can lead to severe exposure.
- ✗
There will be insufficient time to develop new security policies for the combined entity.
Why it's wrong here
Policies can be adapted later; the immediate risk is unknown risks.
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One of 871 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 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.