{"id":77147,"date":"2022-03-30T08:51:38","date_gmt":"2022-03-30T08:51:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/deveccouncil.kinsta.cloud\/?p=77147"},"modified":"2026-03-24T06:46:43","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T06:46:43","slug":"what-is-incident-response-life-cycle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eccouncil.org\/cybersecurity-exchange\/incident-handling\/what-is-incident-response-life-cycle\/","title":{"rendered":"Understanding the Incident Response Life Cycle"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Incident response management is an integral part of cybersecurity operations. Incident responders are the first to react to any security incident: They help organizations identify, contain, eradicate, and recover from the incident. Incident handlers\u00a0help create incident management plans for detection and recovery procedures. Incident handlers\u2014and the entire company\u2014can use these plans in the event of a cyberattack. This article will cover what you need to know about the incident response life cycle and how to help businesses prevent, or manage the aftermath of, a cyberattack.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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What Is the Incident Response Life Cycle?<\/h2>

The incident response life cycle is a series of procedures executed in the event of a security incident. These steps define the workflow for the overall incident response<\/a> process. Each stage entails a specific set of actions that an organization should complete.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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The Five Phases of the Incident Response Life Cycle<\/h2>\n\n

There are several ways to define the incident response life cycle. The National Institute of Standards and Technology<\/a> (NIST; Cichonski et al., 2012) developed a framework for incident handling, which is the most commonly used model. The process outlined in the NIST framework includes five phases:<\/p>\n\n

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  1. Preparation<\/li>\n
  2. Detection and analysis<\/li>\n
  3. Containment<\/li>\n
  4. Eradication and recovery<\/li>\n
  5. Post-event activity<\/li>\n<\/ol>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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    1. Preparation<\/h3>\n

    In this phase, the business creates an incident management plan that can detect an incident in the organization\u2019s environment. The preparation step involves, for example, identifying different malware attacks and determining what their impact on systems would be. It also involves ensuring that an organization has the tools to respond to an incident and the appropriate security measures in place to stop an incident from happening in the first place.<\/p>\n\n

    2. Detection and Analysis<\/h3>\n

    An incident response analyst is responsible for collecting and analyzing data to find any clues to help identify the source of an attack. In this step, analysts identify the nature of the attack and its impact on systems. The business and the security professionals it works with utilize the tools and indicators of compromise (IOCs) that have been developed to track the attacked systems.<\/p>\n\n

    3. Containment, Eradication, and Recovery<\/h3>\n

    This is the main phase of security incident response, in which the responders take action to stop any further damage. This phase encompasses three steps:<\/p>\n\n