Certified: The Security+ Prepcast

Every cybersecurity team, no matter how skilled or well-equipped, will eventually face an incident. Whether it’s a malware infection, a data breach, or a misconfigured firewall rule, something will go wrong—and when it does, how you respond matters far more than how it started. That’s the goal of incident response: to detect, analyze, contain, and recover from security events quickly and effectively. In this two-part series, we’ll explore each phase of the incident response process as outlined in the Security Plus exam objectives. In this first episode, we’ll cover preparation, detection, and analysis.
Let’s start with preparation. Preparation is the foundation of incident response. It’s not about reacting to something—it’s about getting ready before anything happens. A prepared organization has clear documentation, trained personnel, defined roles, rehearsed procedures, and the tools they need to act fast when an incident occurs.
One of the most important elements of preparation is having an incident response plan. This plan outlines exactly how your organization will respond to different types of incidents. It defines who is responsible for what, how communication will flow, and how evidence will be collected, escalated, and preserved.
Let’s walk through a real-world example. A financial institution defines roles for its incident response team: the incident commander manages strategy and communication; analysts investigate and triage; system administrators carry out containment steps; and legal and HR coordinate communication and compliance. When a phishing campaign successfully compromises a user account, the team follows the plan. Within minutes, the account is locked, logs are preserved, and a notification is sent to the security lead. Because everyone knows their role, there’s no confusion—and no wasted time.
Preparation also includes developing communication plans. During an incident, internal teams must know how to report issues, who to notify, and what steps to follow. External communication—like informing regulators or customers—should also be prepared ahead of time. This prevents confusion, misinformation, or legal missteps during a high-pressure event.
Another key part of preparation is tool readiness. That means ensuring logging is enabled, forensic tools are installed, system clocks are synchronized, and team members have access to the systems and documentation they’ll need during an investigation. Having a great plan means nothing if your tools aren’t ready when the clock starts ticking.
Organizations should also conduct incident response exercises, including tabletop simulations and live-fire drills. These help teams practice procedures, identify weaknesses in the plan, and improve coordination. Even a single exercise can dramatically increase readiness and confidence.
Now let’s turn to the second phase: detection.
Detection is the ability to identify that something has gone wrong—or is about to. Without detection, incidents go unnoticed, dwell time increases, and damage spreads. The earlier an incident is detected, the better the chances of minimizing its impact.
Detection comes from two main sources: automated monitoring systems and human observation. Security Information and Event Management platforms, intrusion detection systems, antivirus software, endpoint detection and response tools, and threat intelligence feeds all contribute to automated detection. These systems continuously scan for known indicators of compromise, unusual behaviors, or policy violations.
For example, an endpoint detection platform might alert on a user running a script that disables antivirus protections. That activity doesn’t match the user’s usual behavior, and the script is flagged as suspicious. This triggers an alert and launches a deeper investigation.
Human detection is equally important. Employees might notice suspicious login prompts, unexpected file changes, or systems running slowly. A helpdesk analyst might observe repeated failed login attempts or strange firewall behavior. Encouraging a strong security culture—where users report anomalies without fear of blame—is a key part of successful detection.
Let’s consider a real-world scenario. A university’s IT helpdesk receives three separate reports from students who say their accounts are sending strange emails. The helpdesk analyst recognizes a pattern, reports it to the incident response team, and checks the email logs. The team finds signs of a phishing campaign and initiates containment. Without those early reports and a trained analyst, the breach might have gone unnoticed.
Effective detection also depends on having a baseline of normal activity. If you know what’s normal in your network, your systems, and your user behavior, it becomes easier to spot anomalies. Behavioral analytics tools can help here by flagging deviations from expected patterns.
Detection should also include alert prioritization. Not every alert signals a real incident. Security teams must distinguish between critical events—like unauthorized data access—and benign anomalies—like an unexpected logon from a traveling executive. Proper filtering and escalation procedures reduce alert fatigue and ensure real threats are investigated.
Finally, let’s explore the third phase of incident response: analysis.
Once an incident has been detected, the next step is to understand it. Analysis is about gathering evidence, assessing the scope of the incident, identifying affected systems, and determining the method of attack. It’s both technical and strategic—because how you interpret the incident will shape the rest of the response.
Analysis starts with data collection. Analysts gather logs, memory dumps, system snapshots, file hashes, email headers, and network captures. This information is used to recreate the timeline of events and determine how the attacker gained access, what they did, and whether they’re still active.
Let’s look at a real-world example. A healthcare organization detects that a database server has experienced an unusual spike in outbound traffic. The analyst pulls logs from the firewall, the database, and the endpoint agent. They discover that an internal script was used to export sensitive records, and the exfiltration occurred over an encrypted tunnel. By reviewing login logs, they identify the compromised user account and trace the origin of the activity to a phishing email received three days earlier.
This level of analysis helps determine the full impact of the incident—what data was affected, what systems were touched, and what regulatory requirements are triggered. It also informs the containment strategy and helps prevent future incidents by identifying vulnerabilities or procedural failures.
During analysis, analysts use indicators of compromise to track the spread of the attack. These indicators might include domain names, Internet Protocol addresses, file hashes, registry changes, or specific user behaviors. Correlating these indicators across systems helps identify whether the attacker moved laterally, escalated privileges, or installed backdoors.
Analysis should also involve documentation. Every action, finding, and timestamp must be recorded. This supports forensics, insurance claims, legal action, and post-incident reviews. The more clearly and consistently your team documents their work, the easier it is to demonstrate due diligence and meet compliance requirements.
And finally, analysis benefits from collaboration. It’s rarely done in isolation. Security analysts, system admins, network engineers, and even legal and communication teams may all be involved in understanding the full picture. Open communication, shared tools, and clear leadership are essential during this phase.
To summarize, the first three phases of the incident response process—preparation, detection, and analysis—set the tone for the entire response effort. Preparation ensures your team is trained, equipped, and aligned. Detection catches threats early and initiates the response process. And analysis uncovers what happened, how it happened, and what needs to happen next. These stages work together to build speed, accuracy, and confidence in the face of an attack.
For the Security Plus exam, expect questions about how to prepare for incidents, which tools aid in detection, and what analysis techniques are used to scope an attack. You may be asked to match activities to the correct phase or recommend next steps based on a detection scenario. Review terms like incident response plan, indicators of compromise, Security Information and Event Management, baseline deviation, and log correlation—they’re all important for both the exam and real-world incident handling.
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