Incident Response

5 minutes 5 Questions

Incident Response is a systematic approach to handling security events and breaches within an IT environment. It involves identifying, analyzing, containing, eradicating, and recovering from security incidents with minimal disruption and damage. A proper incident response plan includes the establis…

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.

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Question 1

Your company has partnered with a third-party vendor for some services. You notice suspicious activity involving the third-party vendor's systems. What should be your initial response?

Ignore the issue Notify your company's Incident Response Team Confront the vendor directly Call the police

Correct Answer: Notify your company's Incident Response Team

Notifying your company's Incident Response Team allows them to assess the potential risk, investigate the issue, and take appropriate actions in collaboration with the third-party vendor.

Question 2

Your company just experienced a ransomware attack. What should be the FIRST step in the incident response?

Contain the incident Disconnect from the internet Notify the press Pay the ransom

Correct Answer: Contain the incident

In response to a ransomware attack, the very first step should be 'Contain the incident' to prevent further damage. This involves isolating the affected systems and networks to stop the spread of the attack. 'Pay the ransom' is not a suitable initial response as there's no guarantee that the attacker will unlock the system even after the ransom is paid. 'Notify the press' is not a priority at this stage, as managing the crisis internally is more urgent. Lastly, 'Disconnect from the internet' may be a part of containing the attack, but it is not as comprehensive as the containment process which also involves activities like quarantining affected systems and securing backup data.

Question 3

Your organization has suffered a data breach with sensitive customer data being leaked. As part of the incident response process, who should be informed?

Only management Only law enforcement Only impacted customers Legal, management, and impacted customers

Correct Answer: Legal, management, and impacted customers

In a case of a data breach, the standard procedure is to inform the legal department, management, and impacted customers. The legal department should be involved to understand the legal ramifications of the breach and to ensure compliance with legislations such as GDPR, which require disclosure of data breaches. Management should be informed as they are responsible for decision making and strategizing the response. The impacted customers should be informed as they have a right to know that their data might be at risk. Notifying only the impacted customers or only management or only law enforcement is insufficient as it does not address all the necessary parties to adequately manage and mitigate the data breach consequences.

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