The answer is a measurable increase in employees reporting suspicious emails and a reduction in the number of successful phishing attacks. These two indicators are correct because they directly measure behavioral change and risk reduction: reporting shows that employees can recognize phishing indicators like mismatched URLs or urgent language, while a drop in successful attacks confirms that this recognition is preventing actual compromises. On the CISSP exam, this tests your understanding of the Security and Risk Management domain, specifically how to evaluate security awareness program metrics using leading versus lagging indicators. A common trap is to confuse completion rates or test scores with effectiveness—those measure participation, not behavior change. Remember the mnemonic “Report to Reduce”: if reporting goes up and successful attacks go down, your training is working.
CISSP Security and Risk Management Practice Question
This CISSP practice question tests your understanding of security and risk management. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
Which TWO of the following are key indicators that a security awareness training program is effective? (Choose two.)
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
An increase in employees reporting suspicious emails to the security team.
Option C is correct because a measurable increase in employees reporting suspicious emails directly indicates that the training has improved their ability to recognize phishing indicators (e.g., mismatched URLs, spoofed sender domains, urgent language) and has instilled the desired reporting behavior. This is a leading indicator of security awareness effectiveness, as it demonstrates proactive threat identification before a compromise occurs.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✗
More instances of employees bypassing security controls to improve productivity.
Why it's wrong here
Bypassing controls is a security risk, indicating training failure.
✗
An increase in help desk calls for password resets.
Why it's wrong here
More password reset calls may indicate confusion, not effective training.
✓
An increase in employees reporting suspicious emails to the security team.
Why this is correct
Reporting suspicious emails shows that employees are applying their training.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Fewer security policies are being issued.
Why it's wrong here
Policy count is not a measure of training effectiveness.
✓
A reduction in the number of successful phishing attacks.
Why this is correct
Successful phishing attacks decline when employees are trained to recognize them.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates may confuse activity metrics (e.g., more help desk calls) with effectiveness metrics, or mistakenly think that fewer policies indicate simpler, more effective training, when in fact the CISSP emphasizes behavioral outcomes like reporting and reduced incident success rates.
Trap categories for this question
Similar concept trap
More password reset calls may indicate confusion, not effective training.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Effective security awareness training leverages the 'Knowledge-Attitude-Behavior' model, where reporting suspicious emails is a behavioral metric that can be tracked via Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) integrations or phishing simulation platforms (e.g., KnowBe4, PhishMe). A reduction in successful phishing attacks (Option E) is a lagging indicator that correlates with improved user resilience, often measured by click-through rates in simulated phishing campaigns dropping below 5% in mature programs. Real-world scenarios show that organizations with robust reporting mechanisms can reduce mean time to detect (MTTD) phishing campaigns from days to minutes.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
An employee at a financial services firm receives an email that appears to come from the IT helpdesk, asking them to reset their password via a link. The link leads to a convincing fake portal that harvests credentials. Security teams use phishing simulations and security-awareness training to reduce this attack vector. Questions like this test whether you can identify social engineering techniques and appropriate controls.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this CISSP question in full detail.
Security and Risk Management — This question tests Security and Risk Management — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: An increase in employees reporting suspicious emails to the security team. — Option C is correct because a measurable increase in employees reporting suspicious emails directly indicates that the training has improved their ability to recognize phishing indicators (e.g., mismatched URLs, spoofed sender domains, urgent language) and has instilled the desired reporting behavior. This is a leading indicator of security awareness effectiveness, as it demonstrates proactive threat identification before a compromise occurs.
What should I do if I get this CISSP question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. An organization is implementing a security awareness program. Which topic should be emphasized most?
medium
A.Social media usage
✓ B.Phishing recognition
C.Password policy
D.Clean desk policy
Why B: Phishing is one of the most common attack vectors and requires user vigilance. Password policies are important but phishing directly exploits human error. Clean desk and social media are relevant but less critical.
Last reviewed: Jun 24, 2026
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This CISSP practice question is part of Courseiva's free ISC2 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 CISSP exam.
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