Guide: Incident Response - CompTIA A+ Operational Procedures

Incident Response is an important part of operational procedures and can be a significant topic covered within the Comptia A+ certification exam.

What is Incident Response?
Incident response is a methodical approach to managing and addressing the aftermath of a security breach or cyber attack, also known as an IT incident, computer incident, or security incident.

Why is Incident Response Important?
The aim of incident response is to handle the situation in a way that limits damage and reduces recovery time and costs. Therefore, having a solid understanding and ability to respond to incidents effectively and efficiently, can increase the protection of an organization's information assets.

How does Incident Response work?
The incident response process can be summarized in six steps:
1. Preparation: Ensuring systems, processes, and team are ready to handle an incident.
2. Identification: Detecting and acknowledging the occurrence of an incident.
3. Containment: Limit the damage caused and prevent further damage.
4. Eradication: Find the cause and eliminate it.
5. Recovery: Restore systems back to normal operations.
6. Lessons Learned: Post-incident analysis for continuous improvement.

Exam Tips: Answering Questions on Incident Response
Here are few tips to answer the questions related to Incident Response in an exam:
- Understand the workflow and lifecycle of Incident Response.
- Pay particular attention to how to adapt to evolving scenarios.
- Know the difference between Incident Response and Disaster Recovery.
- Be well versed in how to document and report findings in an event of an incident.
- Understand how to effectively communicate to all stakeholders during an incident.