SSCP Incident Response and Recovery Practice Question
A financial services firm has just contained a ransomware incident on a file server. The incident response plan requires a formal post-incident activity phase. The CISO wants to know what the team should do FIRST to improve future response. Which action best aligns with NIST SP 800-61 post-incident activity?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is assuming that technical fixes like reimaging or signature updates constitute post-incident improvement, when NIST SP 800-61 prioritizes a lessons learned review first.
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
✓
Conduct a lessons learned meeting with all involved parties to review the incident timeline and response actions.
NIST SP 800-61 defines post-incident activity as including lessons learned to improve future response. Holding a lessons learned meeting with involved parties captures what happened, what was effective, and what needs improvement. This should occur before recovery actions or plan updates, because the team's memory is freshest and evidence is still available. The other actions are either recovery steps or communication tasks that do not directly fulfill the improvement goal.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Update the incident response plan with new detection signatures based on the ransomware variant.
Why it's wrong here
Updating detection signatures is a technical control improvement, but it is premature without first understanding the full incident through a lessons learned review. Signatures alone do not address process gaps, communication issues, or containment delays. NIST SP 800-61 recommends gathering lessons learned before making plan updates, so this is not the best first action.
- ✗
Immediately reimage the server and restore data from the most recent backup.
Why it's wrong here
Reimaging and restoring data are recovery actions that may be necessary, but they do not address improving future response. NIST SP 800-61 places post-incident analysis before recovery is finalized, and performing restoration first can destroy evidence needed to understand the root cause. The CISO asked for improvement, not immediate restoration, making this a plausible but incorrect first step.
- ✓
Conduct a lessons learned meeting with all involved parties to review the incident timeline and response actions.
Why this is correct
NIST SP 800-61 identifies lessons learned as a key post-incident activity. A meeting with stakeholders reviews what happened, what worked, and what needs improvement. This directly addresses the CISO's goal of improving future response by capturing insights while details are fresh. It should occur before final recovery changes obscure the timeline, making it the correct first action.
- ✗
Notify the board of directors and external regulators about the incident.
Why it's wrong here
Notification may be required by policy or regulation, but it is not the post-incident activity that improves future response. Notifying stakeholders is a communication task, not an analysis task. NIST SP 800-61 emphasizes understanding the incident through lessons learned before making changes. Therefore, this is not the first action to improve response.
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official ISC2 exam blueprint
This SSCP 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 SSCP exam.