Option C is the strongest answer because, in a major breach involving sensitive customer data and a large attack scope, the most important practical hiring factor is whether the external investigator has experience handling similar incidents . CHFI v11 emphasizes the roles and responsibilities of forensic investigators , what makes a good computer forensics investigator , and the importance of choosing personnel with the right skills and investigative capability for the case at hand.
Adherence to ethics is important, and reputation can matter, but the question asks for a key factor in the context of a high-stakes breach investigation. Experience with similar cases directly affects the investigator's ability to preserve evidence, scope the breach, handle legal sensitivity, manage cross-system analysis, and produce defensible findings efficiently. That makes it more operationally decisive than general reputation or internal-system familiarity.
Therefore, from a CHFI standpoint, the board should prioritize an external investigator with proven experience in dealing with similar cyber breach and forensic cases , as that is most likely to produce reliable, court-defensible, and technically sound results.