CISM Information Security Governance Practice Question
What is the primary purpose of a security incident near-miss reporting culture?
⚠ Common exam trap
CISM often tests the proactive versus reactive distinction — candidates may pick 'assign blame' because incident investigations do attribute cause, but near-miss culture is explicitly blame-free and forward-looking, so the exam rewards the proactive learning answer.
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
✓
To identify and address security gaps proactively
A near-miss reporting culture encourages employees to report events that could have caused harm but did not, so the organisation can analyse root causes and close gaps before a real incident occurs. It is fundamentally proactive: it surfaces latent weaknesses in controls, processes, and human factors. Blame-free reporting is essential because fear of punishment suppresses disclosure and destroys the data needed for improvement.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
To increase the security budget
Why it's wrong here
Near-miss reporting aims to capture warning signs and improve controls before harm occurs, not to justify funding increases. It is tempting because incident data frequently supports budget cases, but the culture's mechanism is voluntary disclosure and analysis, not financial advocacy.
- ✗
To reduce the number of security policies
Why it's wrong here
Near-miss reporting exists to surface latent weaknesses and prevent recurrence, not to alter the volume of security policies. It is tempting because policy review often follows incidents, but the mechanism is organisational learning from unreported events, not policy reduction.
- ✗
To assign blame for potential incidents
Why it's wrong here
A near-miss culture depends on blame-free reporting so staff disclose errors without fear; assigning blame suppresses reporting and hides risk. It is tempting because accountability matters in incident management, but punitive attribution defeats the purpose of surfacing precursors.
- ✓
To identify and address security gaps proactively
Why this is correct
Near-miss reporting captures events that could have caused harm but did not, letting the organisation remediate weaknesses before a real incident exploits them. This directly satisfies the stem's proactive purpose by surfacing control gaps early rather than reacting after damage occurs.
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About these practice questions
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official ISACA exam blueprint
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