CCOA Incident Detection And Response Practice Question
While investigating a web server breach, you find malicious PHP web shells. What is the most effective way to identify the source of the upload?
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
✓
Analyze web server access logs
Web server access logs record every HTTP POST request, including the URI and the time, allowing you to correlate file creation with specific web requests.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Check the file metadata (MACE)
Why it's wrong here
Provides timestamps but not the source IP/session.
- ✗
Scan the server for viruses
Why it's wrong here
Identifies the shell but not the entry point.
- ✓
Analyze web server access logs
Why this is correct
Provides the evidence of the HTTP request used for upload.
- ✗
Check system boot logs
Why it's wrong here
Does not show web traffic.
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.