ECCouncil 212-89 (EC-Council Certified Incident Handler) Practice Test 105

Question 1040

The response record begins with an unresolved observation: An insider changed access-control lists on hundreds of folders while masking the changes as a migration. What documentation or telemetry would most reliably support the incident determination?

  1. Use baseline ACL monitoring and approval gates for bulk changes
  2. Temporarily restrict the changed shares until permissions are reviewed
  3. Diff current ACLs against approved inheritance and change records
  4. Compare centralized version history with endpoint sync queues and restore checkpoints

Explanation

Correct Answer

C:

Bulk permission drift can hide unauthorized access beyond stolen files; the objective is to establish whether permission integrity can be restored from a baseline; the result can then guide the later protective decision.

Incorrect Answers

A:

Configuration drift detection exposes stealthy permission modification; the case needs evidence validation addressing whether permission integrity can be restored from a baseline; prevention is not incident verification.

B:

Containment closes unknown access routes; when judging whether permission integrity can be restored from a baseline, immediate protection does not substantiate findings; this is instead initial containment or preservation.

D:

Unchecked synchronization may reapply destructive changes to recovered data; that method could help with whether restoration will replay deletions; the evidence validation decision here involves whether permission integrity can be restored from a baseline.

Question 1041

An improvement plan must address recurrence after this case: A highly privileged administrator accidentally exposes a confidential storage share while following an outdated runbook. What should the owner add to the normal control review to reduce recurrence?

  1. Review accessed objects and update the erroneous runbook before reuse
  2. Compare change history, share permissions and the approved procedure version
  3. Enforce peer review and policy guardrails for high-impact permission changes
  4. Use separation of duties and independent approval for sensitive payroll changes

Explanation

Correct Answer

C:

Defense in depth reduces errors by trusted staff; a periodic review of this safeguard can track the risk described by whether a negligent administrative change caused exposure.

Incorrect Answers

A:

Recovery fixes the specific configuration and documentation failure; for whether a negligent administrative change caused exposure, case recovery is not future-risk control; recurrence prevention remains necessary.

B:

The configuration difference can explain disclosure without intent to harm; the requirement concerns whether a negligent administrative change caused exposure, so an investigation is not recurrence prevention.

D:

Control design prevents single-person self-approval; that method could help with whether authorized access was misused outside its intended purpose; the recurrence prevention decision here involves whether a negligent administrative change caused exposure.

Question 1042

While full remediation remains pending, the commander receives this incident report: A departing database administrator left a hidden scheduled account that can still connect after all personal accounts were disabled. Which first protective measure directly limits the situation without assuming cleanup is finished?

  1. Revoke unapproved links and restrict external sharing on affected repositories
  2. Disable the unauthorized account and stop associated scheduled jobs
  3. Rebuild approved automation identities and rotate any shared secrets
  4. Audit service accounts, scheduler jobs and login timestamps tied to the administrator

Explanation

Correct Answer

B:

Removing nonhuman access blocks post-departure connection; the protective decision should be recorded and its effect tested against whether non-person identity persistence remains.

Incorrect Answers

A:

Containment closes persistent data access paths; this serves whether resource-level sharing survives identity disablement, whereas the requested result is initial containment or preservation involving whether non-person identity persistence remains.

C:

Recovery restores legitimate operation without hidden privileges; corrective follow-through follows initial protection in the decision about whether non-person identity persistence remains.

D:

Hidden access can survive ordinary employee account termination; the case needs initial containment or preservation addressing whether non-person identity persistence remains; investigation alone does not control current conditions.

Question 1043

The incident is resolved, but its root weakness still requires policy attention: A contractor onboarding process grants full database export privileges even though the project requires only read access to five tables. What durable process or monitoring change would make a repeat less likely?

  1. Compare granted roles with contract scope and approved data requirements
  2. Review prior exports and issue a corrected scoped account
  3. Rehearse HR, legal and security escalation roles in insider response exercises
  4. Use time-limited vendor entitlements and approval-based data exports

Explanation

Correct Answer

D:

Granular access reduces insider opportunity; the ongoing control is targeted at whether third-party access exceeds business need, rather than a one-time emergency fix.

Incorrect Answers

A:

Excess permission increases potential damage from misuse or compromise; for whether third-party access exceeds business need, an investigation is not recurrence prevention; recurrence prevention remains necessary.

B:

Remediation should assess any use of the unnecessary capability; the requirement concerns whether third-party access exceeds business need, so case recovery is not future-risk control.

C:

Preparation reduces conflict during sensitive incidents; the relevant condition for that step is whether insider investigations have accountable authority, which is not shown for whether third-party access exceeds business need.

Question 1044

The immediate risk must be managed. The response record describes: The insider-threat program collects browsing history on every employee with no defined purpose or legal review. Which intervention is most effective before full eradication or restoration?

  1. Pause excessive collection pending HR, legal and privacy review
  2. Limit collection to documented security purposes with controlled retention
  3. Establish an authorized joint case lead before intrusive inquiry
  4. Examine the program charter, local law, employee notice and collected fields

Explanation

Correct Answer

A:

A lawful, targeted approach preserves trust and investigation defensibility; the scope of this restriction follows whether monitoring scope is proportionate and authorized rather than indiscriminately changing unrelated assets.

Incorrect Answers

B:

Operational recovery includes appropriate handling of already gathered records; the goal is initial containment or preservation for whether monitoring scope is proportionate and authorized. Corrective follow-through follows initial protection.

C:

A coordinated process protects the investigation and affected employee; that method could help with whether insider investigations have accountable authority; the initial containment or preservation decision here involves whether monitoring scope is proportionate and authorized.

D:

Broad surveillance can create privacy risk without improving detection; the case needs initial containment or preservation addressing whether monitoring scope is proportionate and authorized; investigation alone does not control current conditions.

Question 1045

The responder must establish the timeline from this observation: A company grants permanent domain administrator access to employees who only need temporary database maintenance. Which analysis step best addresses the missing confirmation?

  1. Remove unnecessary standing rights and grant supervised temporary access
  2. Review sign-in locations, password-sharing reports and task handoff needs
  3. Use just-in-time privileged access and periodic recertification
  4. Compare actual maintenance tasks with effective permanent role grants

Explanation

Correct Answer

D:

Persistent broad authority increases potential misuse and credential theft impact; that evidence directly tests the concern about whether just-in-time privilege would reduce insider opportunity, rather than relying on a single unverified indicator.

Incorrect Answers

A:

Time-bounded privileges support valid work with less exposure; the requirement concerns whether just-in-time privilege would reduce insider opportunity, so immediate protection does not substantiate findings.

B:

Shared credentials make actions difficult to attribute reliably; it is meant to address whether account sharing undermines attribution, not evidence validation for whether just-in-time privilege would reduce insider opportunity.

C:

Privilege lifecycle control reduces long-term insider risk; prevention is not incident verification in the decision about whether just-in-time privilege would reduce insider opportunity.

Question 1046

The coordinator needs corrective action rather than another alert. The event was: Following insider data theft, a business team declares success once the suspect user is suspended despite active shared credentials. Which follow-through step verifies the weakness was removed?

  1. Rebuild approved automation identities and rotate any shared secrets
  2. Minimize shared secrets and use attributable identities with revocation hooks
  3. Rotate service secrets and verify no unauthorized data pulls persist
  4. Revoke exposed shared credentials and review delegated grants

Explanation

Correct Answer

C:

Recovery needs evidence that continued access has stopped; the affected workflow should not be considered trusted until the issue of whether access containment is complete is resolved.

Incorrect Answers

A:

Recovery restores legitimate operation without hidden privileges; the relevant condition for that step is whether non-person identity persistence remains, which is not shown for whether access containment is complete.

B:

Individual authorization improves incident control; future hardening is not current-state recovery in the decision about whether access containment is complete.

D:

Comprehensive identity containment reduces further data retrieval; when judging whether access containment is complete, temporary protection does not complete correction; this is instead initial containment or preservation.

Question 1047

Service owners need a bounded short-term safeguard after observing: An employee sends a file through an encrypted web service that is not in the approved transfer list. What immediate action addresses the active exposure and leaves evidence available?

  1. Assess whether restricted content left and remediate sharing permissions
  2. Correlate DLP classification, proxy upload metadata and device file access
  3. Block the unauthorized transfer mechanism and retain policy evidence
  4. Disable the unauthorized job and block its external storage destination

Explanation

Correct Answer

C:

Containment should focus on confirmed unauthorized movement; this is a first-response safeguard for whether an unsanctioned channel moved restricted data, not a substitute for full root-cause analysis.

Incorrect Answers

A:

Investigation determines data scope and retention obligations; the goal is initial containment or preservation for whether an unsanctioned channel moved restricted data. Corrective follow-through follows initial protection.

B:

Encrypted transport alone does not establish misuse; content and policy context matter; investigation alone does not control current conditions in the decision about whether an unsanctioned channel moved restricted data.

D:

Containment stops the unattended transfer path; the other incident centers on whether scheduled automation is an insider persistence route, not this initial containment or preservation question about whether an unsanctioned channel moved restricted data.

Question 1048

The initial scene or threat protection decision concerns the following: A data scientist accesses far more records than peers by running scripted exports at night from an approved workstation. How should responders limit the damage while retaining the investigation trail?

  1. Assess transferred data and adjust entitlements if misuse is confirmed
  2. Correlate query volume, time, business tasks and destination transfer records
  3. Pause unapproved bulk exports while confirming project requirements
  4. Suspend unusual bulk export privileges and preserve audit trails

Explanation

Correct Answer

C:

Narrow containment avoids treating every scripted query as malicious; the scope of this restriction follows whether unusual legitimate tooling masks insider exfiltration rather than indiscriminately changing unrelated assets.

Incorrect Answers

A:

Proportionate response follows verified purpose and impact; corrective follow-through follows initial protection in the decision about whether unusual legitimate tooling masks insider exfiltration.

B:

Large night exports can be suspicious when outside normal assigned work; the case needs initial containment or preservation addressing whether unusual legitimate tooling masks insider exfiltration; investigation alone does not control current conditions.

D:

Targeted containment limits further disclosure while findings are reviewed; the activity targets whether database access patterns show insider snooping; initial containment or preservation here concerns whether unusual legitimate tooling masks insider exfiltration.

Question 1049

A containment decision is required for this incident: A staff member repeatedly emails client lists to a personal account because the company laptop is inaccessible at home. What action constrains the incident at the affected point of control?

  1. Stop unsafe forwarding and provide an approved remote-work alternative
  2. Compare outgoing content classification with legitimate work requirements and policy
  3. Freeze the suspect transaction and restrict the clerk's high-risk modification privileges
  4. Offer secure remote access and enforce classification-aware email controls
  5. Secure or delete unauthorized copies through approved procedures and educate the employee

Explanation

Correct Answer

A:

Containment protects data while addressing the business cause; the immediate response addresses whether careless behavior created an insider data incident while the team preserves relevant case records.

Incorrect Answers

B:

An improper transfer may arise from convenience rather than malicious intent; the requirement concerns whether careless behavior created an insider data incident, so investigation alone does not control current conditions.

C:

Containment protects records while due process proceeds; the other incident centers on whether authorized access was misused outside its intended purpose, not this initial containment or preservation question about whether careless behavior created an insider data incident.

D:

Usable approved workflows reduce risky workarounds; prevention cannot replace immediate action in the decision about whether careless behavior created an insider data incident.

E:

Proportionate recovery distinguishes negligence from deliberate theft; the case needs initial containment or preservation addressing whether careless behavior created an insider data incident; corrective follow-through follows initial protection.

Question 1050

A technical closure review begins after this incident: Security and HR disagree about who may approve investigation of suspected employee misconduct. After the immediate situation is stabilized, what addresses the enabling failure?

  1. Establish an authorized joint case lead before intrusive inquiry
  2. Review incident escalation matrix, HR policies and legal-hold requirements
  3. Rehearse HR, legal and security escalation roles in insider response exercises
  4. Document approvals, evidence scope and decisions in a restricted case record
  5. Limit collection to documented security purposes with controlled retention

Explanation

Correct Answer

D:

Defensible case handling requires traceable authorization; the affected workflow should not be considered trusted until the issue of whether insider investigations have accountable authority is resolved.

Incorrect Answers

A:

A coordinated process protects the investigation and affected employee; for whether insider investigations have accountable authority, temporary protection does not complete correction; trusted restoration remains necessary.

B:

Unclear decision rights can cause unlawful collection or delayed containment; the requirement concerns whether insider investigations have accountable authority, so verification is not the corrective step.

C:

Preparation reduces conflict during sensitive incidents; the goal is trusted restoration for whether insider investigations have accountable authority. Future hardening is not current-state recovery.

E:

Operational recovery includes appropriate handling of already gathered records; the other incident centers on whether monitoring scope is proportionate and authorized, not this trusted restoration question about whether insider investigations have accountable authority.

EC-Council Certified Incident Handler (212-89) Practice Tests