SCS-C02 Threat Detection and Incident Response Practice Question
This SCS-C02 practice question tests your understanding of threat detection and incident response. 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 steps are part of the forensic acquisition process for an EC2 instance suspected of being compromised?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Capture the instance's memory using a forensic tool.
Option D is correct because capturing the instance's memory using a forensic tool (such as LiME or F-Response) preserves volatile data—including running processes, network connections, and encryption keys—that would be lost if the instance were stopped or terminated. This is a critical step in the forensic acquisition process to gather evidence of compromise without altering the system state.
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.
✗
Stop the instance immediately to prevent further damage.
Why it's wrong here
Stopping loses memory and may trigger cleanup scripts.
✗
Enable termination protection on the instance.
Why it's wrong here
Termination protection is a preventive measure, not forensic acquisition.
✗
Terminate the instance to ensure the threat is contained.
Why it's wrong here
Termination destroys evidence.
✓
Capture the instance's memory using a forensic tool.
Why this is correct
Memory contains volatile data like running processes.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✓
Create a snapshot of the root EBS volume.
Why this is correct
Snapshot captures disk data for analysis.
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 often confuse incident response containment (stopping or terminating the instance) with forensic acquisition, which requires preserving both volatile memory and disk state before any changes are made.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Memory acquisition tools like LiME (Linux Memory Extractor) load a kernel module to dump RAM to a file, preserving artifacts such as active network sockets, kernel modules, and encryption keys. The EBS snapshot (Option E) captures the root volume's persistent data, including file system artifacts and logs, but does not capture volatile memory. A complete forensic acquisition requires both memory and disk snapshots to reconstruct the incident timeline.
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
A healthcare organisation deploys an application with a public-facing web tier and a private database tier. The database subnet has no public IP and only accepts connections from the web tier's security group. Questions like this test whether you can design cloud network isolation using VNets/VPCs, subnets, and security group rules.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Threat Detection and Incident Response — This question tests Threat Detection and Incident Response — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Capture the instance's memory using a forensic tool. — Option D is correct because capturing the instance's memory using a forensic tool (such as LiME or F-Response) preserves volatile data—including running processes, network connections, and encryption keys—that would be lost if the instance were stopped or terminated. This is a critical step in the forensic acquisition process to gather evidence of compromise without altering the system state.
What should I do if I get this SCS-C02 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.
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Question Discussion
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