ISC Risk Management Practice Question
You are assessing an Engineered System that uses a micro-segmentation strategy to isolate workloads. An attacker has compromised a single container and is attempting to perform network reconnaissance. What mechanism should block this attempt?
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
✓
Zero-trust network policies that enforce default-deny communication between containers.
Micro-segmentation uses policies to restrict communication between workloads, typically at the application or service level. Deny-all by default policies between containers would prevent reconnaissance.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Zero-trust network policies that enforce default-deny communication between containers.
Why this is correct
Default-deny policies restrict communication and prevent lateral movement and reconnaissance.
- ✗
Enabling flow logging on the network switches.
Why it's wrong here
Flow logging is a detective control, not a preventative one.
- ✗
Host-based IPS (HIPS).
Why it's wrong here
HIPS protects the OS but does not inherently manage network-level micro-segmentation.
- ✗
Implementing a web application firewall (WAF) at the edge.
Why it's wrong here
WAFs protect against external traffic, not internal lateral movement between containers.
About these practice questions
One of 209 original ISC practice questions on Courseiva, each with a full explanation and wrong-answer analysis — not exam dumps or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed August 2026 · checked against the official (ISC)² exam blueprint
This ISC practice question is part of Courseiva's free (ISC)² 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 ISC exam.