CompTIA CySA+ (CS0-002) — Question 8

A team of security analysts has been alerted to potential malware activity. The initial examination indicates one of the affected workstations is beaconing on TCP port 80 to five IP addresses and attempting to spread across the network over port 445. Which of the following should be the team's NEXT step during the detection phase of this response process?

Answer options

• A. Escalate the incident to management, who will then engage the network infrastructure team to keep them informed.
• B. Depending on system criticality, remove each affected device from the network by disabling wired and wireless connections.
• C. Engage the engineering team to block SMB traffic internally and outbound HTTP traffic to the five IP addresses.
• D. Identify potentially affected systems by creating a correlation search in the SIEM based on the network traffic.

Correct answer: D

Explanation

The correct answer is D, as identifying potentially affected systems is crucial for understanding the scope of the incident and mitigating the threat. While options A and B involve communication and immediate containment, they do not directly contribute to the detection phase, and option C, while proactive, does not focus on identifying other affected systems.