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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.

50 questions11 easy25 medium14 hard

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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)

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1

An incident responder needs to create a forensic image of a suspect hard drive. What is the correct procedure to ensure evidence integrity?

Medium
2

A 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?

Medium
3

During 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?

Medium
4

During a forensic investigation, an examiner needs to preserve volatile evidence. Which of the following lists the correct order of collection for volatile data?

Hard
5

During 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?

Medium
6

After a ransomware incident, an organization decides to restore data from backups. The RPO (Recovery Point Objective) is 4 hours. What does this RPO indicate?

Medium
7

A 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?

Hard
8

A 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)

Hard
9

During 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?

Hard
10

Which of the following is the primary purpose of a chain of custody form in digital forensics?

Easy
11

During 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?

Hard
12

During which phase of the NIST SP 800-61 incident response lifecycle are lessons learned meetings conducted and metrics such as MTTD and MTTR tracked?

Easy
13

A company is conducting a disaster recovery test. Which TWO types of tests involve minimal risk to production operations?

Medium
14

An 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?

Easy
15

A company is selecting a disaster recovery site for its critical applications. Which THREE characteristics differentiate a warm site from a cold site? (Select three.)

Hard
16

What is the primary purpose of establishing a chain of custody for digital evidence?

Easy
17

Which type of disaster recovery test involves running the DR systems alongside the production systems to validate functionality without impacting live operations?

Medium
18

During 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?

Easy
19

A security analyst is responding to a malware incident on a Windows server. Which TWO actions should be taken to properly collect volatile evidence?

Medium
20

Which DR testing type involves running recovery systems in parallel with production systems to verify functionality without impacting live operations?

Easy
21

An 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?

Medium
22

During 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?

Hard
23

Which of the following is the PRIMARY purpose of establishing a chain of custody when handling digital evidence?

Medium
24

An incident responder is collecting volatile evidence from a compromised Linux server. Which TWO of the following should be collected first? (Select two.)

Medium
25

An 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?

Medium
26

An 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?

Hard
27

During 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?

Medium
28

After 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?

Hard
29

An 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.)

Medium
30

Which of the following is the FIRST step in the volatile evidence collection order when responding to an incident on a live system?

Easy
31

What is the PRIMARY purpose of a lessons learned meeting after an incident?

Easy
32

During 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?

Hard
33

During which phase of the NIST SP 800-61 incident response lifecycle are incident response plan updates and lessons learned typically documented?

Easy
34

An 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?

Medium
35

During 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.)

Easy
36

A 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?

Medium
37

During a full interruption test of the disaster recovery plan, which of the following is the PRIMARY risk?

Medium
38

An 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?

Hard
39

A 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?

Medium
40

A 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?

Medium
41

A security analyst is investigating a phishing incident that led to credential theft. Which TWO actions are appropriate during the containment phase? (Select TWO)

Medium
42

An 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)

Medium
43

During the preparation phase of incident response, which TWO components are essential for an effective incident response plan? (Select TWO)

Medium
44

An 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?

Hard
45

An 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?

Medium
46

Which type of disaster recovery test involves running the DR systems alongside production systems to verify functionality without impacting operations?

Easy
47

A 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?

Hard
48

A security team detects lateral movement within the network. Which containment strategy should be applied first to limit the spread of the threat?

Medium
49

During a ransomware incident, the incident response team needs to recover encrypted servers. Which THREE steps are essential for successful recovery? (Select THREE)

Hard
50

A 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?

Medium

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.
Systems Security Certified Practitioner SSCP Incident Response and Recovery Practice Questions