CISM Information Security Program Practice Question
You are the CISO of a mid-sized manufacturing company. The company has grown rapidly through acquisitions, and each subsidiary has its own information security program. There is no centralized governance, and recent security incidents have occurred due to inconsistent policies. The board has asked you to create a unified information security program that balances flexibility with control. Each subsidiary has unique operational processes and varying levels of security maturity. You have limited budget and cannot replace all local security teams. Which approach should you take?
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
✓
Develop a minimum security standard (MSS) and a phased implementation roadmap based on risk.
Correct answer is B because developing a minimum security standard (MSS) and a phased implementation roadmap based on risk allows each subsidiary to implement controls based on their unique risk profiles while ensuring a common baseline. This approach balances flexibility with control, respects varying maturity levels, and avoids disruption. Option A (immediate enterprise-wide policy) ignores diverse operational processes and may cause resistance. Option C (centralize all security operations) is costly and impractical given the budget and local teams. Option D (adopt the most mature subsidiary's program) may not fit the context of less mature units.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Immediately mandate compliance with a new enterprise-wide security policy.
Why it's wrong here
A single mandated policy ignores each subsidiary's differing maturity and processes, so low-maturity units cannot comply and incidents persist. Enterprise-wide mandates suit homogeneous, centrally managed organisations where all business units already share comparable controls and reporting lines.
- ✓
Develop a minimum security standard (MSS) and a phased implementation roadmap based on risk.
Why this is correct
A minimum security standard sets non-negotiable controls every subsidiary must meet, while the risk-based phased roadmap sequences remediation according to each unit's maturity and exposure. This balances central control with local flexibility and respects the constrained budget.
- ✗
Centralize all security operations and disband local teams.
Why it's wrong here
Disbanding local teams removes subsidiary-specific operational knowledge and breaches the constraint that local teams cannot be replaced on the limited budget. Full centralisation suits small, single-site organisations with uniform processes and no acquired legacy security functions.
- ✗
Adopt the most mature subsidiary's program as the enterprise standard.
Why it's wrong here
Copying one subsidiary's programme imposes that unit's process assumptions on others with different operations and maturity, leaving gaps elsewhere. Adopting a proven programme as a baseline suits organisations whose units perform similar functions under one management structure.
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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.