hardMultiple Choice
SSCP Practice Question: A medium-sized e-commerce company uses a SIEM…
A medium-sized e-commerce company uses a SIEM with correlation rules. During peak sales hours, the SIEM generates an alert: multiple failed login attempts from internal IP 172.16.10.50 followed by a successful login to a critical database server. The account used is 'dbadmin', which normally only authenticates from the IT department subnet. The user 'dbadmin' reports that they had to try several passwords because they forgot theirs earlier. The incident responder is under pressure to quickly restore normal operations. Which course of action should the responder take?
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
✓
Investigate the user's recent activity, check for abnormal logins, and look for lateral movement from the source IP.
While the user's explanation seems plausible, the alert indicates a deviation from normal behavior (logins from an unexpected subnet). The responder should investigate the user's recent activity, check for abnormal logins, and look for lateral movement from the source IP to rule out a potential compromise. Option A (blocking the user's account immediately) could be disruptive if it's a false positive and may prevent legitimate access. Option B (resetting password and enabling MFA) is a good security measure but does not address the need to verify whether the account was actually compromised or if there is ongoing malicious activity. Option C (dismissing the alert as a false positive) is premature and ignores the possibility of credential stuffing or account takeover. Therefore, investigating further is the most appropriate course of action.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Block the user's account immediately to prevent any further access.
Why it's wrong here
Blocking the account halts the legitimate dbadmin user and does not verify whether the source IP and login were authorised, leaving the incident unresolved. Account lockout suits confirmed compromise. The responder should instead validate the activity against the user's explanation and the source subnet before containment.
- ✗
Reset the user's password and enable multi-factor authentication (MFA).
Why it's wrong here
Resetting the password and enrolling MFA addresses long-term hardening, not the immediate need to determine whether this login was malicious. It also disrupts the dbadmin account during peak trading. Such controls belong in a remediation plan once the alert is verified, not as the first response action.
- ✗
Dismiss the alert as a false positive since the user explained the failed attempts.
Why it's wrong here
Dismissing the alert relies solely on the user's verbal explanation, without checking the source IP against the IT subnet or confirming the login was benign. The correlation rule fired because the behaviour deviated from the baseline. Verification, not closure, is required before treating it as a false positive.
- ✓
Investigate the user's recent activity, check for abnormal logins, and look for lateral movement from the source IP.
Why this is correct
The alert may be benign, but the source IP and unusual dbadmin login pattern warrant verification before dismissing it. Investigating recent activity, abnormal logins and lateral movement confirms or rules out compromise without prematurely closing the incident.
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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.