This CHFI practice question tests your understanding of incident response and first responder skills. 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.
You are responding to a suspected malware infection on a Windows 10 system. The system is still running. Which of the following should you collect 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.
Acquire a memory dump using a tool like WinPmem.
Memory is the most volatile and must be captured first.
Collect the Windows Event Logs.
Why wrong: Event logs are on disk and can be collected later.
Export the contents of the Windows Registry.
Why wrong: Registry is stored on disk and is less volatile than memory.
Create a forensic image of the hard drive.
Why wrong: Disk imaging is important but should follow memory acquisition.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Acquire a memory dump using a tool like WinPmem.
When a system is still running and suspected of malware infection, the first priority is to capture volatile data, which includes the contents of RAM. WinPmem is a tool designed to acquire a memory dump from a live Windows system, preserving critical evidence such as running processes, network connections, and injected code that would be lost on shutdown. This follows the order of volatility (RFC 3227), which mandates collecting memory before any non-volatile data like logs, registry, or disk images.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
Acquire a memory dump using a tool like WinPmem.
Why this is correct
Memory is the most volatile and must be captured first.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "first" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Collect the Windows Event Logs.
Why it's wrong here
Event logs are on disk and can be collected later.
Export the contents of the Windows Registry.
Why it's wrong here
Registry is stored on disk and is less volatile than memory.
Create a forensic image of the hard drive.
Why it's wrong here
Disk imaging is important but should follow memory acquisition.
Common exam traps
EC-Council often tests the order of volatility (OOV) principle, and the trap here is that candidates mistakenly prioritize persistent data (logs, registry, disk image) over volatile memory, thinking they are more stable or easier to collect first.
Detailed technical explanation
Memory acquisition tools like WinPmem use a kernel-mode driver to read physical memory pages via \\.\Device\PhysicalMemory or direct memory access (DMA) interfaces, ensuring a consistent snapshot of RAM. In real-world incidents, malware often resides solely in memory (e.g., fileless malware using PowerShell or reflective DLL injection), making a memory dump the only source of evidence for the initial infection vector. The order of volatility (RFC 3227) explicitly lists memory, then swap/pagefile, then network state, then process/thread tables, and finally disk data.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A practitioner preparing for the CHFI exam encounters this exact type of scenario on the job. The correct answer here is not the most general option — it is the best answer for the specific constraint described. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Real exam questions reward reading the full scenario before eliminating options, because the constraint defines which answer fits.
What to study next
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FAQ
Incident Response and First Responder Skills — This question tests Incident Response and First Responder Skills — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Acquire a memory dump using a tool like WinPmem. — When a system is still running and suspected of malware infection, the first priority is to capture volatile data, which includes the contents of RAM. WinPmem is a tool designed to acquire a memory dump from a live Windows system, preserving critical evidence such as running processes, network connections, and injected code that would be lost on shutdown. This follows the order of volatility (RFC 3227), which mandates collecting memory before any non-volatile data like logs, registry, or disk images.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Yes — watch for: "first". Order matters here. You are being tested on which action comes before the others — not which action is generally useful.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 30, 2026
This CHFI practice question is part of Courseiva's free EC-Council 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 CHFI exam.
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