This CC practice question tests your understanding of security operations. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
You are a security analyst investigating a potential insider threat incident. An employee from the finance department has been behaving suspiciously: printing large volumes of sensitive financial reports, accessing files outside their normal work hours, and attempting to bypass the company's data loss prevention (DLP) controls by renaming files before emailing them. The employee has been with the company for 10 years and has a clean record. The company's policy requires that any investigation be conducted discreetly to avoid alerting the employee. You need to gather evidence to confirm or refute the suspicion. Which of the following actions should you take FIRST?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "first"
Why it matters: Order matters here. You are being tested on which action comes before the others — not which action is generally useful.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Review the employee's system logs and DLP alerts in detail to establish a pattern.
Option B is correct because the first step in any insider threat investigation is to gather and analyze available evidence discreetly, as required by policy. Reviewing system logs (e.g., Windows Event Logs, file server audit logs) and DLP alerts allows you to establish a behavioral pattern—such as anomalous access times, file rename operations, and email attachments—without alerting the employee. This evidence-based approach ensures you can confirm or refute the suspicion before taking any disruptive or confrontational actions.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✗
Confront the employee directly to ask for an explanation.
Why it's wrong here
Confrontation may alert the employee and is not evidence-based.
✓
Review the employee's system logs and DLP alerts in detail to establish a pattern.
Why this is correct
Logs provide objective data; this step is non-intrusive and evidence-gathering.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "first" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Disable the employee's network access immediately to prevent data exfiltration.
Why it's wrong here
Action without evidence may be premature and could disrupt operations.
✗
Notify the employee's manager about the suspicion.
Why it's wrong here
The manager may not understand the need for discretion and could alert the employee.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
ISC2 often tests the principle that investigative actions must be non-disruptive and evidence-driven first, tempting candidates to jump to containment (Option C) or escalation (Option D) before analysis.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
In practice, DLP systems generate alerts based on policy violations such as file rename operations (e.g., changing 'Q4_Financials.xlsx' to 'MeetingNotes.txt') before emailing, which can be correlated with Windows Security Event ID 4663 (an attempt was made to access an object) and file audit logs. Reviewing these logs in a SIEM (e.g., Splunk, ELK) allows you to build a timeline of events, identify patterns like after-hours access (e.g., 2:00 AM logons), and calculate the volume of data printed or emailed—all without triggering the user's awareness. A real-world scenario might involve an employee using a script to rename and compress files to evade DLP fingerprinting, which would be visible in file system audit trails and DLP metadata.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A SOC analyst notices unusual lateral movement in the network at 2 AM. The IR playbook dictates: identify and contain (isolate the affected machine), then eradicate (remove the malware), then recover (restore from backup), then document. Skipping containment before eradication risks the attacker regaining access. Questions like this test the sequence and rationale of incident response phases.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this CC question in full detail.
Security Operations — This question tests Security Operations — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Review the employee's system logs and DLP alerts in detail to establish a pattern. — Option B is correct because the first step in any insider threat investigation is to gather and analyze available evidence discreetly, as required by policy. Reviewing system logs (e.g., Windows Event Logs, file server audit logs) and DLP alerts allows you to establish a behavioral pattern—such as anomalous access times, file rename operations, and email attachments—without alerting the employee. This evidence-based approach ensures you can confirm or refute the suspicion before taking any disruptive or confrontational actions.
What should I do if I get this CC question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "first". Order matters here. You are being tested on which action comes before the others — not which action is generally useful.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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