CRISC Risk Response and Reporting Practice Question
Which of the following is a leading indicator that the risk of a credential-based attack may be increasing?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often confuse leading indicators (which predict future risk) with lagging indicators (which measure past events), leading them to choose options like high mean time to resolve incidents or low patch compliance, which are not directly tied to credential-based attack risk.
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
✓
Failed authentication spike
A failed authentication spike is a leading indicator because it directly signals an increase in attempted unauthorized access, often from credential stuffing or brute-force attacks. Unlike lagging indicators that measure past incidents, this metric provides early warning that the risk of a credential-based attack is rising, allowing proactive controls like account lockout policies or CAPTCHA challenges to be implemented before a breach occurs.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Failed authentication spike
Why this is correct
A sudden increase in failures is a common KRI for credential attacks.
- ✗
Increased number of successful logins
Why it's wrong here
This is not necessarily suspicious.
- ✗
Low patch compliance
Why it's wrong here
This indicates vulnerability risk, not specifically credential attacks.
- ✗
High mean time to resolve incidents
Why it's wrong here
This is a performance metric.
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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.