CISM Information Security Program Practice Question
Which TWO of the following are key performance indicators (KPIs) that demonstrate the effectiveness of a security awareness program?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers confuse activity metrics (e.g., number of training sessions or test frequency) with outcome-based KPIs, leading them to select options like C or D instead of focusing on behavioral change and incident reduction.
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 who correctly identify a phishing email in simulations
The percentage of employees who correctly identify a phishing email in simulations directly measures the behavioral outcome of the awareness program. A high detection rate indicates that employees are applying the training to recognize social engineering tactics, such as spoofed sender addresses or malicious links, which is a key performance indicator (KPI) for program effectiveness.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Percentage of employees who correctly identify a phishing email in simulations
Why this is correct
Directly measures knowledge retention.
- ✗
Number of employees who report suspicious emails
Why it's wrong here
Positive behavior but not a direct measure of program effectiveness.
- ✗
Frequency of phishing simulation tests
Why it's wrong here
Activity metric, not effectiveness.
- ✗
Number of training sessions completed per quarter
Why it's wrong here
Process metric, not outcome.
- ✓
Reduction in the number of security incidents caused by human error
Why this is correct
Demonstrates program impact on risk.
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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.