ISC2 CC Security Operations Practice Question
During an incident investigation, an analyst needs to determine which user account created a specific file on a shared drive at a particular time. The organization enables auditing on the file server. Which Windows event log should the analyst review?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is assuming that the System or Application log tracks all activity on the machine, when file-level attribution depends on object access auditing in the Security log.
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
✓
The Security log, because object access auditing records file creation events there.
Attribution of file activity requires object access auditing, which writes events to the Security log when enabled through audit policy. Those events include the account, object name, and access type, which directly answers who created the file and when. The System, Application, and Setup logs serve other purposes and do not capture user file operations, so they cannot provide the needed evidence.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
The Security log, because object access auditing records file creation events there.
Why this is correct
When object access auditing is enabled, file creation and access events are written to the Windows Security log with event IDs such as 4663 and 4656, including the account name and object path. This makes the Security log the authoritative source for attribution of file operations. Reviewing it requires the appropriate audit policy and sufficient log retention.
- ✗
The Application log, because file operations are generated by applications writing to disk.
Why it's wrong here
The Application log holds events written by applications through the event logging API, such as database errors or application crashes. File creation is a security-relevant object access event, not an application event, so the needed records would not appear here. This log would only help if a specific application explicitly logged its own file activity.
- ✗
The Setup log, because it tracks changes to files installed by administrators.
Why it's wrong here
The Setup log records events during operating system installation and updates, such as component installation and driver staging. It does not track day-to-day user file creation on shared drives. Choosing it would produce no relevant entries for the investigation and would waste valuable time.
- ✗
The System log, because it records all file system changes performed by services and users.
Why it's wrong here
The System log captures operating system and driver events such as service start failures and hardware errors, not routine file creation by users. It does not provide object-level auditing detail. An analyst relying on it would miss the account attribution and object path needed to answer the question.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Incident Response and Management
Key term
Windows event log
The Windows event log is a built-in service that records system, security, and application activities in a structured file so administrators can monitor health, detect problems, and investigate security incidents.
Key term
Incident
An incident is a security event that violates an organization's policies or threatens its data, systems, or operations, requiring a structured response.
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official ISC2 exam blueprint
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.