SSCP Incident Response and Recovery Practice Question
A security analyst is responding to a malware incident on a Windows server. Which TWO actions should be taken to properly collect volatile evidence?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse 'volatile evidence' with 'non-volatile evidence' and choose disk imaging (Option C) instead of memory capture, or mistakenly think rebooting (Option A) is a safe containment step.
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
✓
Capture a memory dump using WinPmem
WinPmem is a dedicated memory acquisition tool that captures the contents of RAM, which contains critical volatile evidence such as running processes, open network connections, and injected code. Since volatile data is lost on power loss or reboot, capturing a memory dump before any other action preserves this evidence for forensic analysis.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Reboot the system to clear malware from memory
Why it's wrong here
Rebooting destroys volatile evidence and should be avoided.
- ✗
Delete suspicious files to prevent further infection
Why it's wrong here
Deleting files may destroy evidence; containment should be done without deleting evidence.
- ✗
Perform a full disk image using a write blocker
Why it's wrong here
Disk imaging is for non-volatile data and should be done after volatile collection.
- ✓
Capture a memory dump using WinPmem
Why this is correct
Memory dump captures volatile data from RAM.
- ✓
Record active network connections
Why this is correct
Network connections are volatile and should be captured early.
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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.