Quick Answer
The answer is conducting a post-incident review, along with notifying law enforcement and restoring normal operations, as these are key activities in the incident recovery phase according to NIST. This phase begins after containment and eradication are complete, focusing on returning systems to business as usual while preserving evidence for potential prosecution, which is why external coordination with authorities is included when criminal activity is suspected. On the CISSP exam, this tests your understanding of the NIST incident response lifecycle, where recovery is distinct from earlier phases—a common trap is confusing notification with containment or eradication steps. Remember that recovery is about “return and report”: you return systems to production and report findings through a post-incident review, while law enforcement notification is a specific external reporting action that occurs here. A useful mnemonic is “R3”: Restore, Report, Review.
This CISSP practice question tests your understanding of security operations. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
Which THREE of the following are key activities in the recovery phase of incident response?
Identifying the root cause
Why wrong: Occurs during detection and analysis phase.
Notifying law enforcement
May be required depending on the incident.
Restoring systems from backups
Core recovery activity.
Conducting post-incident review
Learning from the incident is part of recovery.
Implementing containment measures
Why wrong: Belongs to containment phase, before recovery.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Notifying law enforcement
Notifying law enforcement is a key activity in the recovery phase because it involves external coordination after the immediate threat is contained, ensuring legal and regulatory compliance. Recovery focuses on restoring normal operations and preserving evidence for potential prosecution, which includes contacting authorities if the incident involves criminal activity. This step is distinct from containment or eradication, as it occurs after systems are stabilized and the organization begins returning to business as usual.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
Identifying the root cause
Why it's wrong here
Occurs during detection and analysis phase.
Notifying law enforcement
Why this is correct
May be required depending on the incident.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Restoring systems from backups
Why this is correct
Core recovery activity.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Conducting post-incident review
Why this is correct
Learning from the incident is part of recovery.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Implementing containment measures
Why it's wrong here
Belongs to containment phase, before recovery.
Common exam traps
The trap here is confusing the recovery phase with the eradication or containment phases, leading candidates to select root cause analysis (eradication) or containment measures (containment) as recovery activities, when recovery strictly involves restoring operations and post-incident documentation.
Detailed technical explanation
In the NIST SP 800-61 incident response lifecycle, the recovery phase includes restoring systems from clean backups, verifying system integrity, and monitoring for signs of recurrence. Notifying law enforcement often requires preserving forensic evidence (e.g., chain of custody, write-blocked disk images) before systems are fully restored, as restoration may overwrite critical artifacts. Real-world scenarios like ransomware attacks demand careful sequencing: law enforcement notification may occur during recovery to coordinate decryption key handling or legal proceedings.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A developer is choosing between AES-256 (symmetric) and RSA-2048 (asymmetric) for encrypting a large file that will be sent to a partner. Symmetric encryption is fast but requires key exchange; asymmetric is slower but solves the key distribution problem. A hybrid approach — encrypt the file with AES, encrypt the AES key with RSA — is standard. Questions like this test whether you understand when each approach applies.
What to study next
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FAQ
Security Operations — This question tests Security Operations — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Notifying law enforcement — Notifying law enforcement is a key activity in the recovery phase because it involves external coordination after the immediate threat is contained, ensuring legal and regulatory compliance. Recovery focuses on restoring normal operations and preserving evidence for potential prosecution, which includes contacting authorities if the incident involves criminal activity. This step is distinct from containment or eradication, as it occurs after systems are stabilized and the organization begins returning to business as usual.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 24, 2026
This CISSP practice question is part of Courseiva's free ISC2 certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the CISSP exam.
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