Guide to Incident Classification in CompTIA Security+

Incident Classification is an essential domain within CompTIA Security+ under Incident Response and Forensics. It refers to the practice of identifying, categorizing and prioritizing security incidents based on their potential impact.

Why it is important:
Knowing how to properly classify incidents helps in prioritizing responses, ensuring that the most harmful threats are dealt with first. It is also important for regulatory and legal compliance, as well as for effective communication within the security team.

What it is:
Incident Classification typically involves defining categories of incidents based on factors such as the type of threat, the systems affected, the potential damage, and the threat actor's motivations and capabilities.

How it works:
The process may begin with an initial triage to determine the severity of an incident. Then, the incident will be classified according to the defined categories and prioritized for response.

Answering Questions:
Exam Tip: When answering questions about Incident Classification on the exam, it is important to understand the key steps in the process and the reasons behind them. In particular, be ready to explain how to classify various types of incidents, and how classification influences incident response.

Examples of questions might include:
- How would you classify an incident involving a malware attack on a critical server?
- What factors would you consider when classifying a phishing incident?
- How might the classification of an incident affect the response strategy?

Always remember, your answers should be in context with the given problem, consider the threat's potential impact, affected systems, and security protocols in place.