CBRFIR: Cisco CCNP Cybersecurity CBRFIR (300-215)

About the CBRFIR Exam

Work the incident — image the host, carve the memory, read the logs, identify the malware, and drive the response

The 300-215 CBRFIR (Conducting Forensic Analysis and Incident Response Using Cisco Technologies for Cybersecurity) is a CCNP Cybersecurity concentration exam focused on digital forensics and incident response (DFIR). Where the core exam covers cybersecurity operations broadly, CBRFIR puts you in the analyst’s chair after something has already gone wrong: writing the root-cause-analysis report, performing forensic analysis on infrastructure network devices, recognising antiforensic tactics, decoding obfuscated payloads (base64, hex, polymorphic and metamorphic code), reading and writing YARA rules, using hex editors, disassemblers and debuggers such as Ghidra and Radare, gathering evidence from virtualized and major cloud environments, applying MITRE ATT&CK methods to fileless malware, locating the files that matter on a host, evaluating SIEM and malware-analysis output to extract IOCs, analysing logs and network traffic anomalies, identifying code type from a snippet, constructing Python, PowerShell and Bash scripts to parse Cisco Umbrella, Cisco Secure Endpoint, Cisco Secure Network Analytics and pxGrid data, and knowing what Volatility, Sysinternals, SIFT tools and tcpdump each actually do. On the response side it covers interpreting alert logs, correlating host and network data, identifying attack vectors and attack surface, recommending post-incident mitigation across firewalls, SOAR and Cisco XDR, responding to zero-day exploitation, interpreting threat-intelligence feeds for IOCs and IOAs, building a threat-actor profile, analysing web-server and NetFlow/Wireshark evidence, interpreting binaries with objdump, and evaluating the elements of an incident response playbook, a Cisco Secure Malware Analytics report, and STIX/TAXII intelligence. Passing CBRFIR earns the Cisco Certified Specialist - Cybersecurity Forensic Analysis and Incident Response certification and, with the CBRCOR 350-201 core, the CCNP Cybersecurity certification. Original practice questions. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sourced from Cisco Systems certification exams.

Who Should Take This Exam?

CBRFIR is designed for incident responders, forensic analysts, SOC tier-2/tier-3 analysts, threat hunters, and security engineers who handle live incidents. Cisco recommends 3-5 years of experience with cybersecurity technologies. It helps enormously if you have already handled a real incident end-to-end — this is an ANALYSIS exam, not a memorisation exam. You are asked what an artifact proves, which tool answers a question, what the log or the packet capture actually shows, and what to do next. Comfort with Windows and Linux artifacts, a scripting language, and the open-source DFIR toolchain (Volatility, The Sleuth Kit, Wireshark, YARA, Sysinternals) matters more than Cisco product trivia — although you do need to know which Cisco telemetry source answers which question.

Typical study time: 6-10 weeks of focused study

Exam Quick Facts

Exam Domains & Weights

The CBRFIR exam covers 5 domains. Focus your study time based on the weights below — higher-weighted domains have more exam questions.

💡 Study tip: Incident Response Techniques alone is 30% — the single biggest slice — so start there, then take the two 20% forensics domains. Drill the distinctions this exam loves: evidence of execution vs evidence of existence (Prefetch, Amcache and UserAssist show usage; an MFT entry only proves a file exists); Windows logon types (3 = network/SMB, 10 = RemoteInteractive/RDP — not the other way round); pslist vs psscan in Volatility (pslist walks the active process list and misses unlinked processes, psscan carves pool tags and finds them); NetFlow carries no payload (metadata only — you need full packet capture to read content); IOC vs IOA (artifact of compromise vs behaviour in progress); STIX vs TAXII (STIX is the language, TAXII is the transport); polymorphic vs metamorphic (mutating decryptor around the same code vs code that rewrites itself); and timestomping detection via a $STANDARD_INFORMATION / $FILE_NAME mismatch in the MFT.

Practice Exam — 250 Questions

Prepare for the CBRFIR with our 250-question practice exam covering all 5 exam domains. Every question is an original real-world forensics and incident-response scenario with detailed explanations and maps to the official exam topics (v1.2).

What you get:

• ✅ Exam simulation mode with timer
• ✅ Spaced repetition for weak areas
• ✅ Detailed explanations for every question
• ✅ Progress tracking across domains
• ✅ 20 free questions — no account needed

Cisco Certification Path

Cisco certs follow: Entry (CCT) → Associate (CCNA) → Professional (CCNP) → Expert (CCIE). CCNP Cybersecurity requires the CBRCOR 350-201 core exam plus one concentration — CBRFIR 300-215 is the forensics and incident-response concentration. Many people come to CBRFIR from the CyberOps Associate (200-201), which covers the SOC monitoring fundamentals CBRFIR then takes much deeper.

Related Cisco Certifications

If you’re studying for the CBRFIR, you might also be interested in these Cisco certifications:

• CBRCOR: Performing Cybersecurity Using Cisco Security Technologies (350-201) — the CCNP Cybersecurity CORE exam; you need this plus CBRFIR to earn the full CCNP — 250 practice questions
• CyberOps: Cisco CyberOps Associate (200-201) — the associate-level SOC monitoring exam that feeds naturally into CBRFIR — 250 practice questions
• SCOR: Cisco CCNP SCOR (350-701) — the CCNP Security core, covering the Cisco security portfolio end to end — 250 practice questions
• SDSI: Designing Cisco Security Infrastructure (300-745) — the security-architecture DESIGN concentration — 250 practice questions
• SNCF: Securing Networks with Cisco Firewalls (300-710) — Secure Firewall and NGIPS, a common source of the alerts you triage — 250 practice questions
• SCAZT: Designing and Implementing Secure Cloud Access (300-740) — SSE, SASE and ZTNA — 250 practice questions

Study Tips

1. Start with Incident Response Techniques (30%) — it is nearly a third of the exam on its own, and it is where alert interpretation, host/network correlation, and post-incident action all live
2. Learn what each artifact PROVES, not just what it is — the exam repeatedly asks whether a given artifact demonstrates execution, presence, access or nothing at all; if you can answer “what does this prove, and what does it NOT prove?” you will pass a lot of questions
3. Get hands-on with the open-source toolchain — Volatility, The Sleuth Kit/Autopsy, Wireshark, tcpdump, Sysinternals, YARA, Ghidra and objdump are all named in Cisco’s own blueprint; a weekend running them against a sample image is worth more than a week of reading
4. Practise reading, not writing, code — you need to identify a snippet’s language and say what it does (Python, PowerShell, Bash, JavaScript, PHP, VBScript, batch), and construct simple scripts to parse Umbrella, Secure Endpoint, Secure Network Analytics and pxGrid output
5. Match the Cisco product to the telemetry it actually produces — Umbrella (DNS and web), Secure Endpoint (endpoint EDR and retrospection), Secure Network Analytics (NetFlow behaviour, no payload), Secure Malware Analytics (sandbox detonation), Cisco XDR (cross-telemetry correlation), pxGrid (context sharing, not a sensor)
6. Know both the current and legacy product names — Cisco’s own v1.2 blueprint still says “Firepower” and “ThreatGrid”, so be fluent in both directions: Secure Firewall was Firepower, Secure Malware Analytics was ThreatGrid, Secure Network Analytics was Stealthwatch, Secure Endpoint was AMP for Endpoints
7. Use our practice exam — try the 20 free questions first to gauge your readiness, then use the timed exam mode to practise under pressure