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
Regulatory notification follows containment and scoping; reporting at 09:00 before isolating the DMZ host leaves the C2 channel active and exfiltration ongoing. Immediate reporting is tempting because the 72-hour clock has started, and would be correct once the breach is confirmed and contained, but the first action is to sever the C2 traffic.
- ✗
Perform a forensic analysis of the server to determine the scope of compromise.
Why it's wrong here
Forensic imaging before isolation lets the adversary keep exfiltrating over the live C2 channel; evidence capture must follow containment. Analysis is tempting because scoping the compromise is genuinely required, and would be the immediate step after isolation, but performing it first leaves the outbound channel open and data flowing.
- ✓
Disconnect the server from the network and activate the manual process.
Why this is correct
Disconnecting the server immediately halts the active C2 channel, stopping potential data exfiltration while the unpatched legacy application cannot be remediated. The four-hour manual process comfortably covers containment and investigation, and rapid isolation supports the 72-hour breach reporting obligation.
- ✗
Keep the server online under close monitoring to minimize customer disruption.
Why it's wrong here
Leaving the host online preserves the attacker's C2 channel and allows continued exfiltration, contradicting the CEO's concern and the manual workaround's four-hour window. Monitoring is tempting as a low-disruption, evidence-preserving measure, and would suit a contained, non-exfiltrating threat, but here it fails to stop active data loss.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery
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.