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312-39 · Question #7

312-39 Question #7: Real Exam Question with Answer & Explanation

The correct answer is C. 4616 and 4618. Event ID 4616 is the key Windows Security log event for “system time was changed,” and it is the primary artifact to confirm and investigate time-tampering. It typically includes details such as the previous time, the new time, and the account or process context responsible, whic

Question

A SOC analyst receives an alert indicating that the system time on a critical Windows server was changed at 3:00 AM. There are no scheduled maintenance tasks at this time. Unauthorized time changes can be used to evade security controls, such as altering timestamps to obscure malicious activity. The analyst must identify the relevant event codes that log system time modifications and related suspicious behavior. Which of the following Windows Security Event Codes should the analyst review to investigate potential tampering?

Options

  • A4608 and 4609
  • B4625 and 4634
  • C4616 and 4618
  • D4616 and 4624

Explanation

Event ID 4616 is the key Windows Security log event for “system time was changed,” and it is the primary artifact to confirm and investigate time-tampering. It typically includes details such as the previous time, the new time, and the account or process context responsible, which helps the SOC determine whether the change was authorized (maintenance) or suspicious (off-hours, unusual account, unexpected host). Event ID 4618 is useful as a companion signal because it indicates monitored security-relevant conditions and can help reveal related suspicious behavior around auditing or security event patterns that may coincide with timestamp manipulation. In practice, SOC analysts correlate the time-change event with surrounding authentication events, privilege use, and process creation telemetry to identify the actor and intent. The other options do not directly target the time-change activity: 4608/4609 relate to system startup/shutdown; 4625 is failed logon and 4634 is logoff; 4624 is successful logon (useful context, but not the event that records the time modification itself). Therefore, the best pairing for investigating time tampering in the options provided is 4616 and 4618.

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