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CISM Practice Question: During an incident investigation, the team…
During an incident investigation, the team discovers that a compromised account was used to exfiltrate data. Which of the following should the team do NEXT?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently confuse 'immediate containment' with 'immediate password reset or account deletion,' failing to recognize that the first step must be forensic analysis to understand the full impact before taking irreversible actions.
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
✓
Determine the scope of the breach by analyzing accessed resources.
The immediate priority after discovering a compromised account is to determine the scope of the breach by analyzing which resources the account accessed. This involves reviewing authentication logs, file access records, and data transfer logs to identify the extent of data exfiltration and potential lateral movement. Without this analysis, the team cannot contain the incident effectively or understand what data was compromised, which is a fundamental step in incident response per NIST SP 800-61.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Determine the scope of the breach by analyzing accessed resources.
Why this is correct
Establishing the breach scope identifies every account, resource and dataset the attacker touched, which is required before containment, eradication or notification decisions. Acting on the single known account alone risks leaving persistence mechanisms and additional compromised credentials undiscovered.
- ✗
Reset the password and re-enable the account immediately.
Why it's wrong here
Resetting the password and re-enabling immediately restores the attacker's access path and overwrites credentials before forensic analysis, allowing renewed exfiltration. It is tempting as rapid recovery, and would be correct once containment, eradication and root-cause analysis have concluded.
- ✗
Notify the affected users and customers.
Why it's wrong here
Notifying affected users and customers precedes containment and scoping, so the breach remains active and the notification may be inaccurate or premature. It is tempting because regulatory and contractual duties demand disclosure, and it would be correct once the incident is contained and impact assessed.
- ✗
Delete the compromised account from the system.
Why it's wrong here
Deleting the account destroys authentication logs, mailbox contents and audit trail evidence needed to scope the breach, while the attacker may retain other persistence. It is tempting as immediate containment, and would be right only after evidence preservation and forensic imaging are complete.
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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.