cism test Advanced Practice Exam: Hard Questions 2025

A global financial firm is moving several critical workloads to a public cloud provider. Business leadership demands faster release cycles, while regulators require demonstrable control ownership and accountability across the shared responsibility model. Multiple internal teams claim ownership of key controls (e.g., logging, vulnerability management), creating gaps and duplication. As the CISM, what is the MOST effective first step to reduce risk while enabling the migration timeline?

A manufacturing organization has a mature information security program, but the board is dissatisfied with security reporting because it focuses on operational metrics (e.g., number of patched systems) rather than business risk. Recent incidents have involved third parties and operational technology (OT). The CEO wants a single quarterly dashboard that supports risk-based investment decisions. Which approach BEST aligns security governance with business outcomes?

A healthcare provider is assessing risk for a new API integration with a partner that will exchange sensitive patient data. The partner refuses to allow on-site audits but offers independent assurance reports and contractually agrees to notify breaches within 72 hours. The provider has limited ability to technically enforce partner controls. What is the MOST appropriate risk treatment strategy to address this situation?

A retail company uses a quantitative risk model to prioritize initiatives. A high-impact ransomware scenario shows a large annualized loss expectancy (ALE), but proposed mitigations have uncertain effectiveness and could slow digital transformation. The CFO challenges the model because recent years had no major ransomware events. As the CISM, what is the BEST way to address the challenge while maintaining sound risk management?

An organization is deciding between two approaches for protecting a critical customer-facing application: (1) invest heavily in preventive controls to reduce likelihood, or (2) invest in rapid recovery capabilities to reduce impact. The application has high availability requirements, and outages trigger contractual penalties. The security budget is constrained, and the risk appetite statement prioritizes resilience for revenue-critical services. Which decision is MOST appropriate?

A DevSecOps transformation is underway. Product teams complain that security gates are unpredictable and cause late-stage delays. Security leadership wants to reduce risk without blocking delivery and must maintain consistent control evidence for audits. Which program change BEST addresses both delivery and assurance requirements?

An enterprise has separate security tools for endpoint detection, network monitoring, and identity, each managed by different teams. Several recent attacks exploited weak correlation across logs, leading to delayed detection. Leadership wants measurable improvement in detection without significantly increasing headcount. What is the MOST effective program-level action?

A multinational company must standardize data classification and encryption practices across regions. Some regions have strict data residency requirements; others prioritize analytics and rapid sharing. Business units are bypassing central controls by using unsanctioned SaaS tools. As the CISM, which approach BEST balances control, compliance, and business enablement?

During an incident, the SOC detects suspicious authentication attempts consistent with a password spraying campaign targeting privileged accounts. Initial triage indicates the attempts are distributed across many IPs and are not triggering existing thresholds. Business operations are sensitive to authentication disruptions. What should the incident manager do FIRST to reduce risk while minimizing business impact?

An organization suffers a significant data exfiltration incident. The forensic team needs rapid access to endpoint images and cloud logs. Legal counsel is concerned about privilege, chain of custody, and potential discovery. Meanwhile, regulators may require timely notification, and the business wants to restore services quickly. What is the BEST course of action to manage these competing requirements?