hardMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped
CISM Practice Question: An organization's incident response policy…
An organization's incident response policy requires preserving evidence in its original state. During a live incident on a critical server, the incident response team needs to capture volatile data, such as running processes and network connections, which would be lost if the system were shut down. The team has a forensic workstation with various tools. What tool should the team use to capture the volatile data before taking the system offline?
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
✓
Memory dump tool (e.g., winpmem)
Volatile data from memory is best captured using a dedicated memory acquisition tool like winpmem or similar. FTK Imager and WinHex are primarily for disk imaging. The dd command is used for disk copying, not memory. Memory dumps capture volatile data.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
WinHex
Why it's wrong here
WinHex is a hex editor and disk tool, not optimized for memory acquisition.
- ✗
dd command
Why it's wrong here
dd is for disk cloning; it cannot capture memory directly.
- ✗
FTK Imager
Why it's wrong here
FTK Imager is used for disk imaging, not capturing volatile memory.
- ✓
Memory dump tool (e.g., winpmem)
Why this is correct
Memory dump tools are designed to capture volatile data from RAM.
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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.