While containment is urgent, the formal declaration of an incident and proper documentation are foundational steps in the EC-Council’s ECIH methodology. This establishes the official start of the response, ensures all actions are tracked for accountability and potential legal proceedings, and provides a timeline that is crucial for post-incident analysis. Jumping to technical actions without this framework can lead to procedural gaps and evidence that may not be admissible.

The first priority is analysis and understanding. While disconnecting the server (option A) is a containment action, doing it immediately could alert the attacker, destroy volatile evidence in memory, and prevent you from understanding the full scope of the compromise. A strategic response requires gathering intelligence first. Analyzing the network traffic helps determine what data is being taken, where it’s going, and can inform a more targeted containment strategy that preserves evidence.

Recovery is the phase where systems are returned to normal operation. While restoration from backup (option A) is a common recovery *task*, the core objective of the recovery *phase* is to validate that the system is fully functional and secure for business use. This includes testing, verifying, and placing the system back into the production environment, often under increased monitoring to ensure the eradication was successful and no residual threats remain.

The core principle of a lessons learned review is continuous improvement. Its primary purpose is to be forward-looking, identifying weaknesses in policies, procedures, tools, and training that contributed to the incident or hampered the response. This analysis is used to update the incident response plan, strengthen security controls, and prevent similar incidents, thereby maturing the organization’s security posture. It is not focused on blame (retrospective) but on prevention (prospective).

For investigating a hidden process, volatile data about currently running processes and network connections is paramount. `ps aux` lists all running processes, including details like the user, PID, and command path. `netstat -tulpn` shows active network connections and listening ports, and crucially, maps them to the Process ID (PID). This combination can reveal malicious processes and their associated network activity, which would be lost if the system were powered down.

A forensic image (or bit-stream image) is an exact, sector-by-sector copy of a storage medium. This includes all data: active files, deleted files (which reside in unallocated space), slack space, and partition tables. This integrity and completeness are what make it admissible as evidence. A standard file copy (like drag-and-drop) only transfers active files visible to the operating system, missing crucial forensic artifacts.

The authority to declare a major incident must rest with a defined management role, typically the CISO or a designated Incident Response Manager. This ensures the declaration is based on a strategic assessment of impact (legal, financial, reputational) and scope, not just a technical observation. It triggers the formal mobilization of resources, executive communication, and potentially legal and public relations protocols, which are beyond the purview of technical staff.

Eradication requires removing all components of the incident. Simply resetting a password (option A) may not terminate active malicious sessions established with the stolen credential. A comprehensive eradication must: 1) Invalidate the old credential (password reset), 2) Terminate any existing sessions (force logout), and 3) Investigate what the attacker did while access was possible (review logs) to address any secondary actions they may have taken, such as installing backdoors or accessing data.

Incident response is often conducted under significant pressure and time constraints. A standardized checklist serves as a cognitive aid, ensuring that even in a stressful scenario, the team follows a consistent, proven process. It helps prevent oversights (like failing to document an action or skipping a crucial containment step) that could compromise the investigation, the eradication effort, or the legal standing of the evidence collected.

While containment is urgent, the formal declaration of an incident and proper documentation are foundational steps in the EC-Council’s ECIH methodology. This establishes the official start of the response, ensures all actions are tracked for accountability and potential legal proceedings, and provides a timeline that is crucial for post-incident analysis. Jumping to technical actions without this framework can lead to procedural gaps and evidence that may not be admissible.0