CISM Incident Management Practice Question
Which TWO of the following are essential components of an incident response programme that should be established before an incident occurs? (Select TWO.)
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
✓
A signed retainer agreement with a forensics firm
An IR team with defined roles and a signed retainer with a forensics firm are critical preparatory elements. The IR plan is also prepared, but the question asks for components established before an incident.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
An insurance claim form for cyber incidents
Why it's wrong here
Insurance forms are not typically pre-filled; the policy is established but not the claim form.
- ✓
A signed retainer agreement with a forensics firm
Why this is correct
Having a retainer in place reduces time to engage external forensics.
- ✗
A list of affected customers from the most recent data breach
Why it's wrong here
This is incident-specific and not a pre-established component.
- ✗
A root cause analysis report from a previous incident
Why it's wrong here
This is a post-incident output, not established before an incident.
- ✓
An incident response team with assigned roles and responsibilities
Why this is correct
The team structure and roles should be defined in advance.
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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.