ISC2 CC Business Continuity, DR & Incident Response Practice Question
An organization has detected a ransomware infection. What is the FIRST step in the incident response process?
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
✓
Isolate affected systems
Containment is the immediate priority to prevent further spread of the ransomware.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Isolate affected systems
Why this is correct
Isolation prevents the ransomware from spreading to other systems.
- ✗
Pay the ransom
Why it's wrong here
Paying the ransom is not recommended and not a first step.
- ✗
Run antivirus scans
Why it's wrong here
Scanning may not be effective and could alert the attacker; containment is first.
- ✗
Report to law enforcement
Why it's wrong here
Reporting comes after containment and evidence preservation.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Incident Response and Management
Key term
Containment
Containment is the incident response phase where security teams isolate a compromised system or network to prevent the threat from spreading further while preserving evidence.
Key term
Incident response
Incident response is the structured approach an organization uses to identify, contain, and recover from cybersecurity incidents like data breaches or ransomware attacks.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CC practice question is part of Courseiva's free ISC2 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 CC exam.