What is the typical next step after the analyst runs the plays in the playbook?

The typical next step after an analyst runs the plays in a playbook is Mitigation and Remediation.

Here’s a brief overview of the process:

1. Running the Plays: This involves following the steps outlined in the playbook to detect and assess the nature of the security incident. The plays guide the analyst through the initial response, including identifying the incident, analyzing its scope, and determining its severity.
2. Mitigation and Remediation: After the initial response, the focus shifts to containing the incident and preventing further damage. Mitigation involves steps to limit the impact of the incident, such as isolating affected systems or blocking malicious network traffic. Remediation involves resolving the root cause of the incident and restoring affected systems and services to their normal state. This step is crucial to ensure that the threat is completely eradicated and that normal operations can resume securely.

The other options, while important in the overall incident response process, typically occur at different stages:

• Collection and Analysis: This usually happens during the running of the plays in the playbook, where the analyst collects data related to the incident and performs initial analysis.
• Information Sharing: While this can be part of the ongoing response, it typically occurs after initial mitigation and remediation, where lessons learned and details of the incident may be shared with relevant parties to improve future responses and security postures.
• Detection: This is generally one of the first steps in the incident response process, where the incident is initially identified, often even before the plays in the playbook are fully executed.