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CCSP Practice Question: A company experiences a security breach in its…
A company experiences a security breach in its cloud environment, and the security team needs to preserve evidence for legal proceedings. Which of the following is the MOST important step to take first?
⚠ Common exam trap
ISC2 often tests the misconception that preserving evidence means immediately collecting logs or notifying stakeholders, when in fact the first step is to contain the incident to prevent evidence from being altered or destroyed by ongoing attacker activity.
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
✓
Isolate the compromised systems from the network to prevent lateral movement.
The immediate priority in a cloud security incident is to contain the breach and prevent lateral movement, which preserves the integrity of the evidence by stopping further compromise. Isolating compromised systems (e.g., via network security groups or virtual network segmentation) ensures that volatile data, such as memory contents and active connections, is not altered by ongoing attacker activity. This step aligns with the NIST SP 800-61 incident response framework, which emphasizes containment before evidence collection.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Disable all logging to prevent the attacker from seeing detection efforts.
Why it's wrong here
Disabling logging destroys evidence and is not best practice.
- ✓
Isolate the compromised systems from the network to prevent lateral movement.
Why this is correct
Isolating systems is the first priority to stop the attack and preserve evidence.
- ✗
Notify all affected customers of the breach.
Why it's wrong here
Notification is a later step after containment and evidence preservation.
- ✗
Contact the legal department to obtain a warrant before any action.
Why it's wrong here
Legal advice is important but immediate containment takes precedence to prevent further damage.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CCSP 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 CCSP exam.