What phase follows the investigation in the incident response process?

In the incident response process, the phase that follows investigation is mitigation and recovery. This phase focuses on addressing and resolving the incident to minimize harm and restore systems or operations to normal. Once the investigation has been completed, which aims to understand the nature and impact of the incident, the next logical step is to apply the necessary measures to mitigate its effects.

Mitigation involves implementing short-term solutions to reduce immediate threats, while recovery refers to the process of restoring affected systems and services to their normal functioning state. This is crucial for ensuring that the organization can return to regular operations without lingering vulnerabilities resulting from the incident.

Post-incident analysis, while important, occurs after the mitigation and recovery phase, serving to assess the incident response process, identify lessons learned, and improve future responses. The preparation phase is about establishing readiness before an incident occurs, and detection and analysis occurs before investigation, focusing on identifying potential incidents. Thus, mitigation and recovery is the correct follow-up to investigation in the incident response lifecycle.