easyMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped
CISM A company's IDS alerts on a potential breach Practice Question
A company's IDS alerts on a potential breach. The incident response team is called. What should they do immediately?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse 'immediate response' with 'containment' and choose a drastic action like disconnecting cables, forgetting that verification and scope assessment must precede any containment to avoid destroying evidence and causing unnecessary downtime.
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
✓
Verify the alert and assess scope
The immediate priority upon receiving an IDS alert is to verify the alert's validity and assess the scope of the potential breach. This ensures the incident response team does not waste resources on false positives and can accurately determine the affected systems, data, and network segments before taking containment actions. Verification typically involves correlating the IDS signature with actual packet captures, logs, and system telemetry to confirm malicious activity.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Verify the alert and assess scope
Why this is correct
Correct: Verification confirms the alert and assessment determines the extent.
- ✗
Disconnect all network cables
Why it's wrong here
Disconnecting all cables may disrupt business and is an extreme measure not typically first.
- ✗
Notify law enforcement
Why it's wrong here
Law enforcement notification is not the first step; internal investigation comes first.
- ✗
Reimage affected systems
Why it's wrong here
Reimaging destroys evidence and should be done only after investigation.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CISM 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 CISM exam.