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CISSP Practice Question: Your organization is forming an incident response…
Your organization is forming an incident response team (IRT). According to NIST SP 800-61, which TWO roles are considered core to the incident response team?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often confuse 'supporting roles' (like PR, Legal, HR) with 'core roles,' but NIST SP 800-61 strictly limits core IRT to Manager and Technical Lead to ensure rapid, focused technical response without bureaucratic delays.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Technical Lead
NIST SP 800-61 Rev. 2 identifies the Team Manager and the Technical Lead as core roles within an incident response team. The Manager oversees the response process, allocates resources, and coordinates communication, while the Technical Lead drives the technical analysis, containment, and eradication efforts. These two roles are essential for both strategic direction and hands-on technical execution during an incident.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Public Relations
Why it's wrong here
While Public Relations is crucial for managing external communications and maintaining organizational reputation during a security incident, it is considered a supporting function rather than a core member of the incident response team. Their primary responsibility lies in crafting and disseminating public statements, not in the technical detection, analysis, containment, or eradication of the threat itself. The core IRT focuses on the direct technical and operational aspects of incident resolution.
- ✓
Technical Lead
Why this is correct
The Technical Lead is an absolutely core role within an Incident Response Team, providing critical hands-on expertise and strategic direction for technical incident handling. This individual drives forensic analysis, identifies the root cause of the incident, develops containment strategies, and oversees eradication and recovery efforts. Their deep technical knowledge is essential for effectively understanding and mitigating the impact of security breaches.
- ✓
Manager
Why this is correct
The Incident Response Manager is a core component of the IRT, responsible for the overall coordination, strategic oversight, and resource management throughout the incident lifecycle. This role ensures that the team operates efficiently, communicates effectively with all stakeholders, and adheres to established incident response plans and policies. The manager's leadership is vital for guiding the incident to a successful resolution and minimizing business disruption.
- ✗
Legal Counsel
Why it's wrong here
Legal Counsel provides invaluable advisory services to an incident response team, particularly regarding regulatory compliance, data breach notification requirements, and potential legal liabilities. However, this role is typically a supporting function rather than a core operational member directly involved in the technical or tactical response activities. Their expertise guides the team on legal implications, but they do not execute the hands-on incident handling tasks.
- ✗
Human Resources
Why it's wrong here
Human Resources plays an important supporting role during an incident, especially when employee-related issues such as misconduct, insider threats, or personnel data breaches are involved. While HR's input is critical for addressing personnel impacts and internal investigations, their function is not directly engaged in the technical detection, analysis, containment, or recovery phases of a cybersecurity incident. Therefore, HR is considered a specialized support function rather than a core IRT member.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Incident Response and Business Continuity
Key term
Incident
An incident is a security event that violates an organization's policies or threatens its data, systems, or operations, requiring a structured response.
Key term
Incident response
Incident response is the structured approach an organization uses to identify, contain, and recover from cybersecurity incidents like data breaches or ransomware attacks.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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.