ISC Security Operations Practice Question
In an incident response plan, which metric is most useful for measuring the 'dwell time' of a threat actor?
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
✓
Mean Time to Detect (MTTD)
Dwell time is the period between the initial compromise and the time the organization detects the breach.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Mean Time to Acknowledge (MTTA)
Why it's wrong here
MTTA is the time from alert generation to human intervention.
- ✗
Mean Time to Recovery (MTTR)
Why it's wrong here
MTTR is the time to restore systems after a disruption.
- ✓
Mean Time to Detect (MTTD)
Why this is correct
MTTD directly relates to how long a threat remains active before it is discovered.
- ✗
Mean Time to Contain (MTTC)
Why it's wrong here
MTTC measures the speed of response after detection.
About these practice questions
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed August 2026 · checked against the official (ISC)² exam blueprint
This ISC practice question is part of Courseiva's free (ISC)² 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 ISC exam.