SSCP · domain
Incident Response and Recovery
Practise Systems Security Certified Practitioner SSCP Incident Response and Recovery practice questions — original exam-style scenarios with answer choices, explanations, and analysis of common mistakes.
Focused practice
Practice Incident Response and Recovery questions
Scored sessions drawing only from this domain — pick a length below.
Start 20-question practice test →What this domain covers
What to know about Incident Response and Recovery
Incident Response and Recovery questions test whether you can apply the concept in context, not just recognise a definition.
How the topic appears in realistic exam-style scenarios.
Which detail in the question changes the correct answer.
How to eliminate plausible but wrong options.
How to connect the question back to the wider exam objective.
Watch out for
Common Incident Response and Recovery exam traps
- ▸Answering from memory before reading the full scenario.
- ▸Missing a constraint such as cost, availability, security, scope or command context.
- ▸Choosing a broad answer when the question asks for the most specific fix.
- ▸Ignoring why the wrong options are tempting.
Question index
All Incident Response and Recovery questions (50)
Click any question to see the full explanation, or start a practice session above.
An incident responder needs to create a forensic image of a suspect hard drive. What is the correct procedure to ensure evidence integrity?
Medium2A company is developing a DR plan for a critical database. The maximum acceptable downtime is 2 hours, and the maximum data loss is 1 hour. What are the RTO and RPO?
Medium3During the detection and analysis phase, an analyst receives a user report of unusual system behavior. The analyst reviews logs and finds several failed login attempts followed by a successful login from an unusual IP address. What is the next step?
Medium4During a forensic investigation, an examiner needs to preserve volatile evidence. Which of the following lists the correct order of collection for volatile data?
Hard5During the eradication phase of incident response, which of the following actions is MOST critical to ensure the threat is completely removed from a compromised system?
Medium6After a ransomware incident, an organization decides to restore data from backups. The RPO (Recovery Point Objective) is 4 hours. What does this RPO indicate?
Medium7A company's disaster recovery plan specifies an RTO of 4 hours for its customer relationship management (CRM) system. Which of the following DR site types is MOST appropriate to meet this RTO?
Hard8A forensic investigator is collecting evidence from a compromised Windows server. According to the order of volatility, which THREE pieces of evidence should be collected FIRST? (Select THREE)
Hard9During a post-incident review, the incident response team identifies several areas for improvement. According to NIST SP 800-61, which THREE activities are typically part of the post-incident activity phase?
Hard10Which of the following is the primary purpose of a chain of custody form in digital forensics?
Easy11During a post-incident review, the incident response team identifies that the mean time to detect (MTTD) was 14 days. Which improvement would most directly reduce MTTD?
Hard12During which phase of the NIST SP 800-61 incident response lifecycle are lessons learned meetings conducted and metrics such as MTTD and MTTR tracked?
Easy13A company is conducting a disaster recovery test. Which TWO types of tests involve minimal risk to production operations?
Medium14An organization is developing its incident response plan. According to NIST SP 800-61, which phase should include establishing a communication plan, acquiring necessary tools, and conducting exercises?
Easy15A company is selecting a disaster recovery site for its critical applications. Which THREE characteristics differentiate a warm site from a cold site? (Select three.)
Hard16What is the primary purpose of establishing a chain of custody for digital evidence?
Easy17Which type of disaster recovery test involves running the DR systems alongside the production systems to validate functionality without impacting live operations?
Medium18During the detection and analysis phase, an analyst classifies an incident as P1 (critical) because it involves a breach of sensitive customer data. What is the IMMEDIATE next step the analyst should take?
Easy19A security analyst is responding to a malware incident on a Windows server. Which TWO actions should be taken to properly collect volatile evidence?
Medium20Which DR testing type involves running recovery systems in parallel with production systems to verify functionality without impacting live operations?
Easy21An analyst detects suspicious outbound traffic from a workstation to a known command-and-control IP. Which IoC blocking method is MOST appropriate as an immediate containment measure?
Medium22During a malware containment operation, the incident response team decides to isolate an infected endpoint using network access controls. However, the malware is spreading via removable media. Which additional containment measure should the team implement?
Hard23Which of the following is the PRIMARY purpose of establishing a chain of custody when handling digital evidence?
Medium24An incident responder is collecting volatile evidence from a compromised Linux server. Which TWO of the following should be collected first? (Select two.)
Medium25An organization's security team detects a potential data breach. After confirming the incident, they classify it as P2 (high severity) and begin containment. Which action should be performed FIRST to preserve evidence for forensic analysis?
Medium26An organization is restoring a critical database from a backup after a ransomware attack. Which of the following steps should be performed BEFORE restoring the data to ensure the restoration is successful and secure?
Hard27During incident response, a team needs to isolate an infected workstation that is part of a critical manufacturing network. Which containment method is MOST appropriate to minimize disruption while preventing the spread of malware?
Medium28After containing a ransomware incident, the incident response team identifies that the attacker gained initial access through a phishing email that installed a backdoor. Which of the following eradication steps is MOST critical to prevent re-infection?
Hard29An organization uses a hot disaster recovery (DR) site and has a Recovery Time Objective (RTO) of 4 hours. During a DR test, the team discovers that data replication from the primary site fails. Which TWO actions should the team take to meet the RTO while ensuring data integrity? (Choose two.)
Medium30Which of the following is the FIRST step in the volatile evidence collection order when responding to an incident on a live system?
Easy31What is the PRIMARY purpose of a lessons learned meeting after an incident?
Easy32During a forensic investigation, a responder must collect evidence from a live Windows system. Which of the following represents the correct order for collecting volatile data?
Hard33During which phase of the NIST SP 800-61 incident response lifecycle are incident response plan updates and lessons learned typically documented?
Easy34An organization's disaster recovery plan specifies an RTO of 4 hours and an RPO of 1 hour for its critical database. Which of the following DR site configurations BEST meets these requirements?
Medium35During the containment phase of incident response, a security analyst identifies malware on a critical server. Which TWO actions should be taken FIRST to contain the threat and preserve evidence? (Choose two.)
Easy36A security analyst receives a user report about a workstation exhibiting unusual behavior, such as unexpected pop-ups and slow performance. The analyst first checks the antivirus logs and finds no alerts. What is the NEXT step in the detection and analysis phase?
Medium37During a full interruption test of the disaster recovery plan, which of the following is the PRIMARY risk?
Medium38An incident responder is tasked with collecting forensic evidence from a compromised Linux server. Which command would the responder use to capture the contents of volatile memory (RAM) for analysis?
Hard39A security analyst detects a workstation communicating with a known command-and-control server. The workstation is running critical applications. What should be the analyst's first step according to the NIST incident response lifecycle?
Medium40A security analyst receives an alert from the EDR system indicating that a workstation has been communicating with a known malicious IP address. The analyst confirms the alert and notes that the user is still logged in. Which immediate containment action should the analyst take FIRST?
Medium41A security analyst is investigating a phishing incident that led to credential theft. Which TWO actions are appropriate during the containment phase? (Select TWO)
Medium42An organization has suffered a ransomware attack that encrypted files on several file servers. The incident response team is planning recovery. Which TWO actions should be performed to verify that the restored systems are clean before returning them to production? (Select TWO)
Medium43During the preparation phase of incident response, which TWO components are essential for an effective incident response plan? (Select TWO)
Medium44An incident responder is handling a malware outbreak. The malware has been identified as a fileless threat that persists via registry run keys. Which eradication step is most appropriate?
Hard45An incident responder needs to create a forensic image of a suspect hard drive. Which of the following steps is ESSENTIAL to ensure the integrity of the evidence?
Medium46Which type of disaster recovery test involves running the DR systems alongside production systems to verify functionality without impacting operations?
Easy47A security analyst receives a chain of custody form for a hard drive that was seized from a suspected insider threat. The form shows that the drive was handled by three individuals over two days. Which of the following is the PRIMARY reason for maintaining a chain of custody?
Hard48A security team detects lateral movement within the network. Which containment strategy should be applied first to limit the spread of the threat?
Medium49During a ransomware incident, the incident response team needs to recover encrypted servers. Which THREE steps are essential for successful recovery? (Select THREE)
Hard50A security team is collecting evidence from a compromised server. They need to create a forensic image. Which of the following is the CORRECT procedure to ensure data integrity?
MediumOther domains
All SSCP exam domains
Frequently asked questions
- What does the Incident Response and Recovery domain cover on the SSCP exam?
- Incident Response and Recovery questions test whether you can apply the concept in context, not just recognise a definition.
- How many questions are in this domain?
- This page lists all 50 Incident Response and Recovery questions in the SSCP question bank. The actual exam draws from this domain proportionally to its weighting in the official exam blueprint.
- What is the best way to practise this domain?
- Start with a short focused session (10 questions) to identify gaps, then work through explanations. Repeat with a longer session once the weak areas feel solid.
- Can I practise only Incident Response and Recovery questions?
- Yes — the session launcher on this page filters questions to this domain only. Choose any session length for inline explanations and scoring.