John, a forensic officer, was working on a criminal case.

The scenario emphasizes that John used an application (or mechanism) thatprevents alteration of the acquired image content, ensuring the image remainsunalteredand protected from unauthorized modification. In forensic acquisition standards, this corresponds toenabling write protectionduring imaging—commonly implemented using awrite blocker(hardware or controlled software write-protection) to prevent any writes to the source evidence and, where applicable, to protect the integrity of the evidence copy from accidental or unauthorized changes. The purpose is to preserve evidential integrity by ensuring that neither the original media nor the forensic image is modified during handling, analysis preparation, or transfer.

“Validated data acquisition” refers to confirming the image is an exact duplicate, typically by computing and comparing cryptographic hashes (e.g., MD5/SHA) of the source and the acquired image. While validation is essential, the question specifically highlightspreventing alteration, not verifying equality. “Sanitized the target media” is the step of wiping/clearing the destination drive before acquisition to avoid contamination, which is not what is described. “Planned for contingency” relates to operational planning for unexpected issues (equipment failure, encryption, power loss), not integrity protection. Therefore, the best match isEnabled write protection on the evidence media (A).