ISC2 CC Business Continuity, DR & Incident Response Practice Question
You are the incident response lead for a financial services company. At 09:00, the SOC detects unusual outbound traffic from a server in the DMZ to an external IP known to be a command-and-control (C2) server. The server runs a legacy application that cannot be patched. The server is critical for customer transactions, but an alternate manual process can sustain operations for up to 4 hours. The CTO wants to keep the server online to avoid customer impact. The CEO is concerned about data exfiltration. The compliance officer reminds you of regulatory requirements to report breaches within 72 hours. Which action should you take FIRST?
⚠ Common exam trap
ISC2 often tests the principle that containment must precede any other action, even when business pressure or regulatory deadlines exist, to prevent candidates from prioritizing reporting or analysis over stopping the active threat.
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
✓
Disconnect the server from the network and activate the manual process.
The correct first action is to disconnect the server from the network and activate the manual process. This immediately stops potential data exfiltration to the C2 server and contains the incident, aligning with the NIST incident response lifecycle's containment phase. Since the server runs a legacy application that cannot be patched and the manual process can sustain operations for up to 4 hours, isolation is both feasible and necessary to prevent further compromise while maintaining business continuity.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Report the incident to the regulatory authority immediately.
Why it's wrong here
Reporting is important but not the first action; containment takes precedence.
- ✗
Perform a forensic analysis of the server to determine the scope of compromise.
Why it's wrong here
Analysis should follow containment to prevent ongoing damage.
- ✓
Disconnect the server from the network and activate the manual process.
Why this is correct
Immediate containment stops the C2 communication and protects data.
- ✗
Keep the server online under close monitoring to minimize customer disruption.
Why it's wrong here
Continued operation risks data exfiltration and further compromise.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Security Governance and Compliance
Key term
General Data Protection Regulation
A European Union law that gives individuals control over their personal data and sets strict rules for how organizations collect, store, and process that data.
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 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.