CISM Incident Management Practice Question
During a P1 (critical) security incident involving a ransomware attack that has encrypted critical servers, which role is primarily responsible for coordinating the overall response and ensuring timely communication to executive leadership?
⚠ Common exam trap
CISM exam often tests the distinction between tactical roles (security analyst, forensic investigator) and the strategic coordination role (incident response manager). Candidates may mistakenly choose the communications lead because they confuse 'communication to executives' with the overall coordination responsibility, but the IRM owns the overall incident command structure.
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
✓
Incident response manager
In a P1 ransomware incident, the incident response manager (IRM) is responsible for orchestrating the overall response, prioritizing containment over eradication, and ensuring that executive leadership receives timely, accurate status updates. Unlike technical roles, the IRM owns the incident command structure, coordinates cross-functional teams, and manages communication escalations to stakeholders, which is critical when encrypted servers demand immediate business continuity decisions.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Incident response manager
Why this is correct
The IR manager leads the response and communicates with executives.
- ✗
Security analyst
Why it's wrong here
Analysts perform technical investigation, not overall coordination.
- ✗
Forensic investigator
Why it's wrong here
Forensic investigators focus on evidence collection and analysis.
- ✗
Communications lead
Why it's wrong here
The communications lead handles public and internal messaging, but overall coordination rests with the IR manager.
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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.