CISM Information Security Program Practice Question
Which THREE are key performance indicators (KPIs) for an information security program?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse lagging indicators (like incident counts) with leading KPIs, or mistake financial metrics (budget variance) for security performance measures, when the CISM exam focuses on metrics that directly assess control effectiveness and program maturity.
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
✓
Percentage of employees trained
The percentage of employees trained is a key performance indicator (KPI) because it directly measures the effectiveness of the security awareness program, which is a critical control to reduce human error—the leading cause of breaches. A high training completion rate correlates with lower phishing susceptibility and improved incident reporting, making it a leading indicator of program maturity.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Number of security incidents
Why it's wrong here
Incident count is a lagging indicator and can be misleading.
- ✓
Percentage of employees trained
Why this is correct
Training coverage indicates program reach.
- ✗
Budget variance
Why it's wrong here
Budget variance is financial, not security performance.
- ✓
Patch compliance rate
Why this is correct
Patch compliance shows vulnerability management effectiveness.
- ✓
Mean time to detect (MTTD)
Why this is correct
MTTD measures detection effectiveness.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every CISM question from scratch — 871 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.