CRISC Risk Response and Reporting Practice Question
During a quarterly risk review, the CISO notes that the number of failed authentication attempts has increased by 300% over the last month. The IT team confirms no changes to authentication systems. This metric is BEST categorized as which of the following?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse a KRI with a KPI or KCI because all three are metrics, but a KRI specifically measures changes in risk exposure (like a sudden spike in failed logins), not operational performance or control effectiveness.
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
✓
Key Risk Indicator (KRI)
A Key Risk Indicator (KRI) is a metric used to signal a change in risk exposure. A 300% increase in failed authentication attempts, with no changes to the authentication system, strongly indicates a potential ongoing brute-force attack or credential stuffing campaign, directly elevating the risk of unauthorized access. This metric is not measuring performance (KPI), contractual service levels (SLA), or the effectiveness of a specific control (KCI), but rather a change in the risk landscape.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Key Performance Indicator (KPI)
Why it's wrong here
KPIs measure performance, not risk.
- ✗
Service Level Agreement (SLA) metric
Why it's wrong here
SLA metrics measure service delivery, not risk.
- ✓
Key Risk Indicator (KRI)
Why this is correct
KRIs are leading indicators that indicate potential changes in risk exposure.
- ✗
Key Control Indicator (KCI)
Why it's wrong here
KCIs measure control effectiveness, not risk level changes.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
This CRISC question is part of Courseiva's 983-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam 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 CRISC 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 CRISC exam.