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ISC2 CC Practice Question: During a phishing investigation, a security…
During a phishing investigation, a security analyst identifies that an employee clicked a malicious link. The analyst isolates the workstation. What is the NEXT best step?
⚠ Common exam trap
ISC2 often tests the order of volatility (RFC 3227) and the principle that volatile data (memory) must be captured before non-volatile data (disk), so the trap here is that candidates may choose to reimage the workstation immediately to 'clean' it, not realizing that destroys forensic evidence needed for attribution and prevention.
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
✓
Capture a memory image of the workstation for analysis
After isolating the workstation, the next best step is to capture a memory image (RAM) to preserve volatile evidence such as running processes, network connections, and malware artifacts that would be lost on shutdown. This follows the order of volatility (RFC 3227) and is critical for forensic analysis to determine the scope of the compromise.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Capture a memory image of the workstation for analysis
Why this is correct
Isolating the workstation preserves volatile evidence, but memory contents such as running processes and network connections are lost on shutdown or reboot. Capturing a memory image next secures that volatile data before any remediation or power-off destroys it.
- ✗
Update the company's acceptable use policy
Why it's wrong here
Policy revision is a long-term governance action and does nothing to determine the phishing email's scope, affected accounts or additional compromised hosts. It is tempting because user behaviour caused the click, but the immediate need is scoping the incident, which policy updates cannot satisfy.
- ✗
Notify all employees about phishing risks
Why it's wrong here
Broad awareness messaging is preventive and does not identify other recipients who clicked, the sender's infrastructure or any lateral movement. It is tempting because phishing exploits human behaviour, but the next step must scope the incident; awareness campaigns belong to a later improvement phase.
- ✗
Reimage the workstation
Why it's wrong here
Reimaging should be done after evidence collection.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Network Security Components and Controls
Key term
Malware
Malware is any software intentionally designed to cause damage, disrupt operations, steal data, or gain unauthorized access to computer systems.
Key term
Phishing
Phishing is a type of cyber attack where criminals impersonate legitimate organizations or individuals to trick victims into revealing sensitive information such as passwords, credit card numbers, or personal data.
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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.