SSCP Security Operations and Administration Practice Question
A security administrator receives an alert from the SIEM indicating a configuration change on a critical server. The change was not part of any approved change request. What should be the first step?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is that candidates often jump to immediate containment (revert or disable) without recognizing that the first step in incident response is always to verify and scope the incident before taking action.
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 change to determine its source and impact
The first step when an unauthorized configuration change is detected is to investigate the change to determine its source and impact. This aligns with the incident response process, where initial assessment (identification and scoping) precedes containment or remediation. Without investigation, reverting or disabling could destroy forensic evidence or disrupt legitimate services.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Investigate the change to determine its source and impact
Why this is correct
Investigating first establishes whether the unapproved configuration change is malicious or accidental and what it affected, which determines the appropriate containment or rollback. This satisfies the stem's requirement to identify the change's source and impact before acting.
- ✗
Notify the server owner
Why it's wrong here
Notifying the server owner assumes the change is benign and may alert an insider responsible for the unauthorised modification, allowing evidence to be destroyed. Owner notification is appropriate after the change has been investigated and confirmed as legitimate or as part of the remediation workflow.
- ✗
Revert the server to the last known good configuration
Why it's wrong here
Reverting to the last known good configuration destroys volatile evidence and may remove the unauthorised change before its scope and intent are understood, potentially leaving persistence mechanisms in place. Reverting is the correct remediation step once the change has been investigated and contained, not the immediate first action.
- ✗
Disable the server's network access
Why it's wrong here
Disabling network access contains the server but may disrupt critical services and destroys live evidence such as active connections and memory state before the change is understood. Isolation is appropriate once an active compromise is confirmed, but the first step is to investigate the alert to determine whether the change is malicious.
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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.