SSCP Risk Identification, Monitoring, and Analysis Practice Question
A security analyst is reviewing logs and notices that an application log shows an error message indicating 'unhandled exception' followed by a stack trace. This log is most likely categorized as which type?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse 'unhandled exception' with a security event (like a crash due to an exploit) and incorrectly select Security log, but the question explicitly states the log contains a stack trace, which is a hallmark of application-level debugging output, not a security or system event.
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
✓
Application log
Application logs are generated by software applications and record application-specific events, including errors like 'unhandled exception' and stack traces. Since the log entry originates from an application and contains a stack trace (a developer-oriented diagnostic), it is categorized as an application log, not a system, security, or audit log.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
System log
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect: System logs record OS-level events.
- ✗
Security log
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect: Security logs record security-related events like logins and permissions.
- ✗
Audit log
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect: Audit logs are a subset of security logs, focused on compliance and accountability.
- ✓
Application log
Why this is correct
Correct: Application logs capture events from specific software.
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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.