Certified Information Systems Security Management Professional (ISSMP) Practice Exam

Certified Information Systems Security Management Professional (ISSMP) Practice Exam

The Information Systems Security Management Professional (ISSMP) is an expert in security leadership, specializing in establishing, managing, and governing information security programs while demonstrating strong management and leadership capabilities. ISSMPs manage the alignment of security initiatives with the organization’s mission, goals, and strategies to fulfill enterprise financial and operational needs while maintaining the desired risk posture.

Who should take the exam?

The ISSMP is ideal for experienced leaders responsible for overseeing enterprise-level information security. Relevant roles include:

• Chief Information Officer (CIO)

• Chief Information Security Officer (CISO)

• Chief Technology Officer (CTO)

• Senior Security Executive

Exam Requirement

To qualify, candidates must meet either of the following criteria:

• Hold a valid CISSP certification in good standing and possess a minimum of two years of cumulative, full-time experience in one or more of the six domains outlined in the current ISSMP framework.

OR

• Have a minimum of seven years of cumulative, full-time experience in two or more domains covered in the current ISSMP framework. Additionally, earning a post-secondary degree (bachelor's or master's) in computer science, information technology (IT), or related fields, or obtaining an additional credential from the ISC2 approved list, may substitute one year of the required experience. Part-time employment and internships may also contribute toward fulfilling the experience requirement.

Exam Details

• Exam Name: Certified Information Systems Security Management Professional (ISSMP)
• Length of exam: 3 hours
• Number of items: 125
• Item format: Multiple choice and advanced items
• Passing grade: 700 out of 1000 points
• Language: English

Course Outline 

The Exam covers the given topics  - 

Domain 1: Overview of Leadership and Business Management

1.1 Establish security’s role in organizational culture, vision and mission

• Defining information security program vision and mission
• Aligning security with organizational goals, objectives, and values
• Defining security’s relationship with the overall organization processes
• Defining the relationship between organizational culture and security

1.2 Align security program with organizational governance

• Identifying and navigating organizational governance structure
• Verifying and validating roles of key stakeholders
• Validating sources and boundaries of authorization
• Advocating and obtaining organizational support for security initiatives

1.3 Define and implement information security strategies

• Identifying security requirements from organizational initiatives
• Evaluating capacity and capability to implement security strategies
• Prescribing security architecture design
• Managing implementation of security strategies
• Reviewing and maintaining security strategies

1.4 Define and maintain security policy framework

• Determining applicable external standards, laws, and regulations 
• Determining data classification and protection requirements 
• Establishing internal policies 
• Advocating and obtaining organizational support for policies 
• Developing procedures, standards, guidelines, and baselines 
• Ensuring periodic review of security policy framework

1.5 Manage security requirements in contracts and agreements

• Evaluating service management agreements (e.g., risk, financial)
• Governing managed services (e.g., infrastructure, cloud services)
• Managing security impact of organizational change (e.g., mergers and acquisitions, outsourcing, capability development)
• Ensuring that applicable regulatory compliance statements and requirements are included in contractual and service management agreements
• Monitoring and enforcing compliance with contractual and service management agreements

1.6 Manage security awareness and training programs

• Promoting security programs to key stakeholders
• Identifying needs and implementing training programs by target segment
• Monitoring, evaluating, and reporting on effectiveness of security awareness and training programs

1.7 Define, measure and report security metrics

• Identifying Key Performance Indicators (KPI) and Key Risk Indicators (KRI)
• Associating metrics to the risk posture of the organization
• Using metrics to drive improvements to the security program and operations

1.8 Prepare, obtain and administer security budget

• Preparing and securing annual budget
• Adjusting or requesting budget based on evolving risks and threat landscape
• Managing and reporting financial responsibilities

1.9 Manage security programs

• Defining roles and responsibilities
• Determining and managing team accountability
• Building cross-functional relationships
• Resolving conflicts between security and other stakeholders
• Identifying communication bottlenecks and barriers
• Integrating security controls into organization processes

1.10 Apply product development and project management principles

• Incorporating security throughout the lifecycle
• Identifying and applying applicable methodology (e.g., agile, waterfall, lean, rapid application development)
• Analyzing project scope, timelines, quality, and budget

Domain 2: Understand Systems Lifecycle Management

2.1 Manage integration of security throughout system life cycle 

• Integration of information security decision points and requirements throughout the system life cycle
• Implementation of security controls throughout the system life cycle
• Overseeing security configuration management (CM) processes

2.2 Integrate organization initiatives and emerging technologies throughout the security architecture 

• Implementing security principles 
• Addressing impact of organization initiatives on security posture 

2.3 Define and manage comprehensive vulnerability management programs (e.g., vulnerabilities, scanning, penetration testing, threat analysis)

• Identification, classification, and prioritization of assets, systems, and services based on criticality and impact to the organization 
• Prioritization of threats and vulnerabilities based on risk 
• Management of security testing 
• Management of mitigation and/or remediation of vulnerabilities 
• Monitoring and reporting of vulnerabilities

2.4 Manage security aspects of change control

• Integration of security requirements with change control process 
• Conducting a security impact analysis 
• Identification and coordination with the stakeholders 
• Management of documentation and tracking 
• Ensuring policy compliance (e.g., continuous monitoring)

Domain 3: Learn about Risk Management

3.1 Develop and manage a risk management program

• Identifying risk management program objectives
• Defining risk management objectives with risk owners and other stakeholders
• Determining scope of organizational risk program
• Identifying organizational risk tolerance/appetite
• Obtaining and verifying organizational asset inventory
• Analyzing organizational risks
• Determine countermeasures, compensating and mitigating controls
• Identifying risk treatment options
• Conducting Cost-benefit analysis (CBA) of risk treatment options
• Recommending risk treatment options to stakeholders
• Documenting and managing agreed risks and issues treatments
• Testing, monitoring, and reporting on risks and issues

3.2 Manage security risks within the supply chain (e.g., supplier, vendor, third-party risk, contracts) 

• Identifying supply chain security risk objectives
• Integrating supply chain security risks into organizational risk management
• Verifying and validating security risk control within the supply chain
• Monitoring and reviewing the supply chain security risks

3.3 Conduct risk assessments

• Identifying risk factors
• Determining the risk assessment approach (e.g., qualitative, quantitative)
• Performing the risk analysis

3.4 Managing risk controls

• Identifying controls
• Determining control effectiveness
• Evaluating control coverage
• Monitoring/reporting risk control effectiveness and coverage

Domain 4: Security Operations

4.1 Establish and maintain security operations center

• Development of security operations center (SOC) documentation 

4.2 Establish and maintain threat intelligence program 

• Aggregating threat data from multiple threat intelligence sources
• Conducting baseline analysis of network traffic, data, and user behavior
• Detecting and analyzing anomalous behavior patterns for potential concerns
• Conducting threat modeling
• Identifying and categorizing attacks
• Correlating related security events and threat data
• Defining actionable alerts

4.3 Establish and maintain incident management program 

• Development of program documentation
• Establishing incident response (IR) case management processes
• Establishing incident response (IR) team
• Applying incident management methodologies
• Establishing and maintaining incident handling processes
• Establishing and maintaining investigation processes
• Quantifying and reporting incident impacts and investigations to stakeholders
• Conducting root cause analysis

Domain 5: Understand Contingency Management

5.1 Facilitate development of contingency plans

• Identifying and analyzing factors related to resiliency planning (e.g., Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP), external factors, laws, regulations, business impact analysis (BIA))
• Identifying and analyzing factors related to the business continuity plan (BCP) (e.g., time, resources, verification, business impact analysis (BIA))
• Identifying and analyzing factors related to the disaster recovery plan (DRP) (e.g., time, resources, verification)
• Coordinating contingency management plans with key stakeholders
• Defining internal and external crisis communications plan
• Defining and communicating contingency roles and responsibilities
• Identifying and analyzing contingency impact on organization processes and priorities
• Managing third-party contingency dependencies (e.g., cloud providers, utilities)
• Preparing security management succession plan

5.2 Develop recovery strategies

• Identifying and analyzing alternatives
• Recommending and coordinating recovery strategies
• Assigning recovery roles and responsibilities

5.3 Maintain contingency plan, resiliency plan (e.g., Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP)), business continuity plan (BCP) and disaster recovery plan (DRP)

• Planning testing, evaluation, and modification
• Determining survivability and resiliency capabilities
• Managing plan update process

5.4 Manage disaster response and recovery process

• Declaring and communicating disaster
• Implementing plan
• Restoring normal operations
• Gathering lessons learned
• Updating plan based on lessons learned

Domain 6: Learn about Law, Ethics and Security Compliance Management

6.1 Identify the impact of laws and regulations that relate to information security

• Identifying legal jurisdictions that the organization and users operate within (e.g., trans-border data flow)
• Identifying applicable security and privacy laws/regulations/standards
• Identifying intellectual property laws
• Identifying and advising on risks of non-compliance and non-conformity

6.2 Understand, adhere to, and promote professional ethics

• ISC2 Code of Ethics
• Organizational code of ethics

6.3 Validate compliance in accordance with applicable laws, regulations, and industry standards 

• Informing and advising senior management
• Evaluating and selecting compliance framework(s)
• Implementing the compliance framework(s)
• Defining and monitoring compliance metrics

6.4 Coordinate with auditors and regulators in support of internal and external audit processes

• Planning
• Scheduling
• Coordinating audit activities
• Evaluating and validating findings 
• Formulating response
• Monitoring and validating implemented mitigation and remediation actions

6.5 Document and manage compliance exceptions

• Identifying and documenting controls and workarounds
• Reporting and obtaining authorized approval of risk waiver