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ISC2 CC Practice Question: During a security incident, the incident response…
During a security incident, the incident response team needs to preserve evidence. Which of the following actions should be performed first?
⚠ Common exam trap
ISC2 often tests the principle of order of volatility, and the trap here is that candidates mistakenly think powering off the system preserves evidence, when in fact it destroys the most volatile and valuable forensic data.
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 dump
Capturing a memory dump (volatile data) is the first priority because it contains critical evidence such as running processes, network connections, and encryption keys that will be lost when the system is powered off. The order of volatility dictates that volatile data must be collected before any non-volatile data, and before any actions that could alter system state.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Notify law enforcement
Why it's wrong here
Evidence must be captured and preserved before external parties are engaged; notifying law enforcement first risks alteration or loss of volatile data such as memory and running processes. It is tempting because law enforcement involvement is legally required in many incidents, but that step follows securing the scene.
- ✓
Capture a memory dump
Why this is correct
Volatile memory holds running processes, network connections and encryption keys that vanish on power-off, so capturing a memory dump first preserves this evidence before any shutdown or remediation destroys it. Disk imaging and other collection steps follow afterwards, satisfying the stem's requirement to preserve evidence in the correct order.
- ✗
Power off the system
Why it's wrong here
Powering off destroys volatile evidence in RAM, running processes and network connections, and can trigger encryption routines or alter timestamps on disk. It is tempting because shutting down appears to stop the attacker immediately, but isolation from the network achieves containment while preserving memory for forensic capture.
- ✗
Run antivirus scan
Why it's wrong here
Antivirus scanning modifies file metadata and timestamps, destroying volatile evidence before it is captured. It is tempting because scanning is a routine containment and remediation step, and would be correct once forensic images and memory dumps have already been preserved.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Secure Network Architecture and Design
Key term
Encryption
Encryption is the process of converting readable data into a secret code to prevent unauthorized access.
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
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