nerdexam
CompTIA

CAS-002 · Question #874

In a situation where data is to be recovered from an attacker's location, which of the following are the FIRST things to capture? (Select TWO).

The correct answer is C. Snapshots of data on the monitor E. Volatile system memory. Digital forensics follows the order of volatility, requiring investigators to capture the most transient data first before it is permanently lost.

Enterprise Security

Question

In a situation where data is to be recovered from an attacker's location, which of the following are the FIRST things to capture? (Select TWO).

Options

  • ARemovable media
  • BPasswords written on scrap paper
  • CSnapshots of data on the monitor
  • DDocuments on the printer
  • EVolatile system memory
  • FSystem hard drive

How the community answered

(20 responses)
  • A
    5% (1)
  • C
    85% (17)
  • D
    10% (2)

Why each option

Digital forensics follows the order of volatility, requiring investigators to capture the most transient data first before it is permanently lost.

ARemovable media

Removable media is non-volatile storage that retains data without power and can be collected safely after more volatile evidence is secured.

BPasswords written on scrap paper

Passwords written on paper are stable physical artifacts that will not change or disappear due to system state changes, so they are lower priority than volatile digital evidence.

CSnapshots of data on the monitorCorrect

Data visible on the monitor reflects the current live system state and can change instantly if the suspect interacts with the system, making an immediate screenshot or photograph critical before any other action is taken.

DDocuments on the printer

Documents on the printer are stable physical items that can be collected after volatile digital evidence without risk of data loss.

EVolatile system memoryCorrect

Volatile system memory (RAM) contains ephemeral forensic artifacts such as running processes, active network connections, decryption keys, and session data that are permanently destroyed when the system is powered off, placing it at the top of the order-of-volatility capture sequence.

FSystem hard drive

The system hard drive is non-volatile persistent storage and is imaged after volatile memory and on-screen data per the standard order of volatility.

Concept tested: Digital forensics order of volatility

Source: https://www.nist.gov/publications/guide-integrating-forensic-techniques-incident-response

Topics

#digital forensics#volatile data#order of volatility#evidence collection

Community Discussion

No community discussion yet for this question.

Full CAS-002 Practice