CISM Information Security Programme Practice Question
Which of the following is a leading indicator for security performance?
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
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Patch compliance percentage
Leading indicators are proactive measures that predict future performance. Patch compliance is a leading indicator because it shows current security posture that influences future incidents.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Patch compliance percentage
Why this is correct
Patch compliance percentage measures activity performed before incidents occur, revealing whether vulnerability remediation is keeping pace. Unlike breach counts or incident volumes, which are lagging, it predicts future exposure, making it a leading indicator of security performance.
- ✗
Mean time to recover (MTTR)
Why it's wrong here
MTTR is lagging: it measures recovery after incidents have already occurred, so it reports past performance rather than predicting future risk. It tempts because faster recovery sounds proactive, and it would be the right metric for assessing resilience and response capability once an event has happened.
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Number of data breaches
Why it's wrong here
Breach counts are lagging: they record incidents already realised, revealing nothing about future security posture. It tempts because breach data is concrete and board-friendly, and it would be correct for reporting historical outcomes or demonstrating trend improvement over prior periods.
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Mean time to detect (MTTD)
Why it's wrong here
MTTD is lagging: it measures how quickly incidents were detected after occurring, describing past detection performance rather than forecasting future risk. It tempts because detection speed feels preventive, and it would be correct for evaluating monitoring and SOC response capability retrospectively.
About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every CISM question from scratch — 924 in total, each with an explanation and a wrong-answer breakdown. None are copied from real exams or dumps. 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.