SSCP Security Operations and Administration Practice Question
A security analyst notices multiple failed login attempts on a critical server followed by a successful login from an unusual IP address. Which metric would BEST capture this event?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently confuse 'incident count' with 'mean time to detect' (MTTD), thinking MTTD captures the event itself, when in fact MTTD is a performance metric for detection speed, not a count of occurrences.
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
✓
Incident count
The incident count metric directly captures the occurrence of a security event—multiple failed logins followed by a successful login from an unusual IP—as a discrete security incident. This metric is used to track the number of such events over time, enabling trend analysis and resource allocation for incident response. It is the most appropriate measure for logging and reporting this specific sequence of authentication anomalies.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Patch compliance
Why it's wrong here
Patch compliance measures the percentage of systems with up-to-date patches, not security events.
- ✗
Training completion
Why it's wrong here
Training completion tracks employee completion of security awareness training.
- ✗
Mean time to detect (MTTD)
Why it's wrong here
MTTD measures the time to detect an incident, not the count of incidents.
- ✓
Incident count
Why this is correct
The failed and successful login attempts from an unusual IP indicate a potential security incident.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This SSCP 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 SSCP exam.