CCOA Incident Detection And Response Practice Question
A SIEM has triggered an alert for 'Excessive Failed Login Attempts' followed by a 'Successful Login'. Which technique is this most likely attempting to detect?
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
✓
Brute force attack
This pattern is characteristic of a password spraying or brute force attack, where the attacker tries many passwords until one is successful.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Data exfiltration
Why it's wrong here
Focuses on outbound traffic, not login patterns.
- ✓
Brute force attack
Why this is correct
Characterized by high failure rates followed by a successful credential match.
- ✗
DNS tunneling
Why it's wrong here
Involves encoding data in DNS queries.
- ✗
Privilege escalation
Why it's wrong here
Usually occurs after access is already obtained.
About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every CCOA question from scratch — 203 in total, each with an explanation and a wrong-answer breakdown. None are copied from real exams or dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed August 2026 · checked against the official ISACA exam blueprint
This CCOA practice question is part of Courseiva's free ISACA 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 CCOA exam.