hardMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped
SSCP Practice Question: A company's IDS generated an alert for a…
A company's IDS generated an alert for a suspicious outbound connection to a known C2 server. The incident team discovers the host has been communicating for 2 weeks. Which containment strategy is most appropriate?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often choose immediate disconnection (D) or IP blocking (B) as a quick containment action, failing to recognize that preserving volatile evidence is a higher priority in a long-term compromise to ensure a complete forensic analysis and effective remediation.
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
✓
Perform memory forensics before disconnecting
Performing memory forensics before disconnecting (A) is the most appropriate containment strategy because the host has been compromised for two weeks, meaning the attacker may have deployed rootkits, injected malicious code into system processes, or established persistence mechanisms that reside only in volatile memory. Disconnecting or shutting down the host immediately would destroy this volatile evidence, hindering the incident response team's ability to identify the full scope of the compromise, including the specific malware variant, C2 communication methods, and any lateral movement artifacts. Memory forensics allows the team to capture running processes, network connections, and loaded kernel modules, which are critical for understanding the attacker's tactics and preventing future incidents.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Perform memory forensics before disconnecting
Why this is correct
Memory capture preserves evidence of running processes and network connections.
- ✗
Block the C2 IP at the perimeter
Why it's wrong here
This prevents further C2 communication but does not contain the host itself.
- ✗
Shut down the host
Why it's wrong here
Shutdown destroys volatile data and may trigger anti-forensics.
- ✗
Disconnect the host from the network immediately
Why it's wrong here
Disconnecting immediately risks losing volatile forensic data.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This SSCP 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 SSCP exam.