CRISC Risk Response and Reporting Practice Question
A risk practitioner is designing a key risk indicator (KRI) program for a cloud-hosted customer portal. The CISO wants indicators that provide early warning of deteriorating risk conditions rather than reporting losses that have already occurred. Which TWO of the following are the MOST appropriate KRIs for this objective? (Choose two.)
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is selecting operational security metrics that feel proactive, such as incident closure time, when they actually measure events that have already occurred.
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 critical portal servers with missing high-severity patches older than 30 days
Leading indicators measure conditions that precede loss, such as unpatched high-severity vulnerabilities and privileged accounts without multifactor authentication. Both can be tracked continuously and remediated before an attacker exploits them. Breach counts, insurance premiums, and incident closure times all describe outcomes or costs that appear only after risk has already materialized.
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 confirmed data breaches reported to regulators in the last quarter
Why it's wrong here
Breach counts are lagging indicators: they record harm after it has materialized and cannot provide early warning. While valuable for trend analysis and post-incident review, they do not help the CISO act before risk conditions deteriorate. This metric answers what already happened rather than what is about to happen.
- ✗
Total annual cost of cyber insurance premiums for the customer portal
Why it's wrong here
Premium cost is a financial planning figure, not an indicator of operational risk conditions. It changes slowly and reflects underwriting factors rather than the portal's current security posture. It provides no early warning of deteriorating controls or emerging threats, so it fails the CISO's stated objective.
- ✓
Percentage of critical portal servers with missing high-severity patches older than 30 days
Why this is correct
Unpatched high-severity vulnerabilities are a leading indicator because they measure a condition that raises the likelihood of a future compromise before any incident occurs. Tracking the percentage of servers outside the 30-day window provides an early warning signal tied directly to the threat landscape. This aligns with the CISO's request for predictive rather than lagging indicators.
- ✗
Average time to close security incidents after they have been detected
Why it's wrong here
Mean time to closure measures response efficiency after an incident has already occurred, making it a lagging indicator. It is useful for operational maturity reporting but does not warn of rising exposure in advance. The CISO specifically asked for early warning signals, which this metric cannot supply.
- ✓
Number of privileged accounts lacking multifactor authentication on the portal
Why this is correct
Privileged accounts without multifactor authentication represent a latent weakness that attackers routinely exploit for initial access. Counting them highlights an exposed condition that can be remediated before an incident, making it a leading indicator. It also gives the CISO an actionable target that can be driven toward zero over time.
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official ISACA exam blueprint
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