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CISM Practice Question: The incident response manager for a multinational…
You are the incident response manager for a multinational corporation that processes sensitive financial data. The company has a mature security operations center (SOC) that monitors network traffic, endpoints, and cloud services. At 2:00 AM local time, the SOC alerts you to a critical incident: an internal server (IP 10.10.10.50) is communicating with an external IP address (198.51.100.23) known to be associated with a ransomware group. The server hosts a financial database that is replicated to a secondary site every 6 hours. The last successful replication was at 1:00 AM. The SOC has already isolated the server from the network by blocking its outbound traffic at the firewall. However, the server is still running. The initial investigation suggests that the communication started 30 minutes ago. The database contains customer PII and transactional data. Your incident response plan includes steps for containment, eradication, recovery, and post-incident review. The CEO is being notified and expects a recommendation on the best course of action. The company has a cyber insurance policy that requires timely notification and preservation of evidence. The legal department advises that any action that could destroy evidence must be carefully considered. Which of the following is the BEST course of action?
⚠ Common exam trap
ISACA often tests the misconception that immediate eradication (wiping) is faster and safer, but the trap here is that destroying evidence before forensic imaging violates legal and insurance requirements, and the isolated server can be safely imaged without risk of spread.
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
✓
Take a forensic image of the server's memory and disk for analysis, then rebuild the server from a known good backup.
It balances forensic preservation (memory and disk imaging) with recovery from a known good backup, ensuring evidence is intact for legal and insurance requirements while restoring operations. The server is isolated, so imaging can be done safely without risk of further compromise, and the 1:00 AM backup (just one hour before the 2:00 AM communication started) is likely clean, minimizing data loss.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Take a forensic image of the server's memory and disk for analysis, then rebuild the server from a known good backup.
Why this is correct
Forensic imaging preserves evidence, and rebuilding ensures a clean system.
- ✗
Reconnect the server to the network and attempt to negotiate with the attacker if ransomware is detected.
Why it's wrong here
Negotiation is not recommended and reconnecting could spread the infection.
- ✗
Immediately wipe the server and restore from the 1:00 AM backup to minimize downtime.
Why it's wrong here
Wiping destroys evidence and may not address the root cause.
- ✗
Leave the server isolated but running to monitor the attacker's actions and gather intelligence.
Why it's wrong here
This risks further compromise or data loss if ransomware activates.
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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.