200-201 Security Policies and Procedures Practice Question
A security analyst receives an alert from the SIEM indicating a large number of failed login attempts from an external IP address targeting a user account. According to the incident response process, what should be the analyst's first action?
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
✓
Perform initial triage to determine the severity and validity
Initial triage is part of Detection and Analysis to determine if the alert is a true positive and assess its priority.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Initiate the legal hold process to preserve evidence
Why it's wrong here
Legal hold is a data preservation step that may be taken later if litigation is expected.
- ✗
Contain the threat by blocking the IP address on the firewall
Why it's wrong here
Containment occurs after detection and analysis confirms an incident.
- ✗
Escalate the alert to Tier 2 for deeper investigation
Why it's wrong here
Escalation may be appropriate after initial triage, but the first step is to triage the alert.
- ✓
Perform initial triage to determine the severity and validity
Why this is correct
Initial triage is the first step in Detection and Analysis to verify the alert and prioritize.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This 200-201 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Cisco 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 200-201 exam.