The answer is to disable the compromised domain administrator account immediately. This is the correct first response because the successful login from an unauthorized remote IP after 50 failed attempts confirms a successful brute-force attack against a domain-level account, and containing the breach by disabling the account stops any further lateral movement or privilege escalation before the attacker can act. On the Cisco CyberOps Associate 200-201 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of the NIST incident response framework’s containment phase, specifically that disabling a compromised account takes priority over investigation or remediation when domain privileges are at risk. A common trap is to first check endpoint logs for unusual activity, but the policy violation (remote admin from a non-jump-server IP) and the brute-force pattern already indicate compromise, so containment must come first. Memory tip: “Disable first, ask questions later” — when a domain admin account is breached, kill the credentials before the attacker kills your network.
200-201 Security Monitoring Practice Question
This 200-201 practice question tests your understanding of security monitoring. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. 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.
You are a SOC analyst at a medium-sized enterprise. The company uses a SIEM that collects logs from firewalls, endpoints, and Active Directory. At 2:00 AM, the SIEM generates a high-priority alert: 'Multiple Failed Logins for Administrator Account from Remote IP 198.51.100.20'. The analyst on the night shift reviews the alert and sees that there were 50 failed attempts in 10 minutes, followed by a successful login at 2:12 AM. The successful login originated from the same IP. The account is a domain administrator. The analyst checks the firewall logs and sees that the IP is from a known VPN provider. The analyst also checks the endpoint logs and sees that no unusual activity has occurred after the login. The company has a policy that remote administration is allowed only from a specific jump server with IP 203.0.113.10. The analyst suspects a brute-force attack succeeded. What should the analyst do first?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "first"
Why it matters: Order matters here. You are being tested on which action comes before the others — not which action is generally useful.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Disable the compromised administrator account immediately
Option B is correct because the immediate priority is to contain the breach by disabling the compromised domain administrator account. The successful login from an unauthorized IP (198.51.100.20) after 50 failed attempts indicates a successful brute-force attack, and the account has domain-level privileges. Disabling the account stops any further lateral movement or privilege escalation, which is the first step in incident response containment before any remediation or investigation.
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.
✗
Block the IP address 198.51.100.20 on the firewall
Why it's wrong here
Blocking the IP is reactive, but the attacker may have already used that session to move laterally.
✓
Disable the compromised administrator account immediately
Why this is correct
Disabling the account stops all access by the attacker and is the fastest containment action.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "first" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Perform a full network scan of the VPN provider's entire IP range
Why it's wrong here
Scanning the VPN provider's range is inefficient and could be considered aggressive; it does not address the immediate threat.
✗
Reset the password of the compromised administrator account
Why it's wrong here
Resetting the password is important, but it does not terminate the current session immediately; disabling the account is more urgent.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Cisco often tests the distinction between containment (disabling the account) and remediation (resetting the password), where candidates mistakenly choose password reset first because they think it solves the problem, but disabling is the correct immediate action to cut off access.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
In Active Directory, disabling an account immediately revokes Kerberos ticket-granting tickets (TGTs) and prevents new NTLM authentication, but existing Kerberos service tickets may remain valid until they expire (typically 10 hours by default). This is why disabling is preferred over password reset as the first step—password reset does not invalidate existing Kerberos tickets, so the attacker could still authenticate to services using cached tickets. In real-world attacks like the 2020 SolarWinds breach, attackers used compromised domain admin accounts to move laterally, and immediate account disablement was critical to stop further spread.
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 small business has 20 workstations on the 192.168.1.0/24 network and one public IP from its ISP. The router uses PAT (NAT overload) so all 20 devices share one public address using different source ports. NAT questions test whether you understand the four address terms and which direction each translation applies.
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.
Security Monitoring — This question tests Security Monitoring — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Disable the compromised administrator account immediately — Option B is correct because the immediate priority is to contain the breach by disabling the compromised domain administrator account. The successful login from an unauthorized IP (198.51.100.20) after 50 failed attempts indicates a successful brute-force attack, and the account has domain-level privileges. Disabling the account stops any further lateral movement or privilege escalation, which is the first step in incident response containment before any remediation or investigation.
What should I do if I get this 200-201 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "first". Order matters here. You are being tested on which action comes before the others — not which action is generally useful.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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