CISM Information Security Programme Practice Question
Which of the following is a leading indicator of security program effectiveness?
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
✓
Phishing click rate
Leading indicators predict future security performance, and phishing click rate is a proactive measure that can be improved before a breach occurs.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Phishing click rate
Why this is correct
Phishing click rate is a leading indicator of user susceptibility and can be tracked proactively.
- ✗
Mean time to detect (MTTD)
Why it's wrong here
MTTD is a lagging indicator of detection capability.
- ✗
Breach count
Why it's wrong here
Breach count is a lagging indicator of security failures.
- ✗
Number of security incidents
Why it's wrong here
Incident count is a lagging indicator, not leading.
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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.