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CISM Practice Question: During a simulated phishing exercise, several…
During a simulated phishing exercise, several employees clicked a link and entered their credentials on a fake login page. The security team needs to determine the impact. Which of the following should be the NEXT step?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers confuse the containment phase with the eradication phase, choosing to block the phishing domain (Option D) instead of immediately neutralizing the compromised credentials, which is the more urgent action to prevent further unauthorized access.
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
✓
Reset the affected employees' passwords and enable multi-factor authentication
When credentials are compromised in a phishing attack, the immediate priority is to contain the breach by invalidating the exposed credentials. Resetting the affected employees' passwords and enabling multi-factor authentication (MFA) prevents attackers from using the harvested credentials for unauthorized access, especially if the credentials are reused across other systems. This aligns with the Incident Response phase of containment before moving to eradication or recovery.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Reset the affected employees' passwords and enable multi-factor authentication
Why this is correct
This mitigates the credential compromise.
- ✗
Implement a security awareness training program
Why it's wrong here
Training is important but not an immediate response to current compromise.
- ✗
Conduct a forensic analysis of the employees' workstations
Why it's wrong here
Forensic analysis may be done later, but immediate password reset is higher priority.
- ✗
Block the phishing domain at the web proxy
Why it's wrong here
Blocking the domain is good, but does not protect accounts already compromised.
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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.