CISM Incident Management Practice Question
An organization's incident response team has contained a data breach. Legal counsel has advised that litigation is likely. Which of the following actions should the team take to preserve evidence?
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
✓
Issue a legal hold and create forensic images of affected systems
When litigation is anticipated, a legal hold must be issued to prevent destruction of relevant evidence, and forensic copies should be made before remediation.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Issue a legal hold and create forensic images of affected systems
Why this is correct
A legal hold suspends routine deletion and triggers preservation obligations, while forensic imaging captures a bit-for-bit copy without altering the original media. Together they satisfy the litigation constraint by keeping evidence admissible and unmodified, which mere containment or continued live analysis would jeopardise.
- ✗
Immediately wipe affected systems to prevent further data loss
Why it's wrong here
Wiping systems erases volatile memory, disk artefacts and malware samples needed as evidence, and can breach legal hold obligations. Preservation requires forensic imaging before remediation. Wiping suits confirmed clean rebuilds after evidence has been captured and counsel has released the hold.
- ✗
Notify the affected individuals as required by law
Why it's wrong here
Notification is important but does not preserve evidence.
- ✗
Delete all logs to avoid exposing sensitive information
Why it's wrong here
Deleting logs destroys the forensic artefacts litigation would rely on and may constitute spoliation. Evidence preservation demands imaging affected systems and securing logs with documented chain of custody. Deletion suits routine retention expiry, not an active incident under legal hold.
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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.