Quick Answer
The answer is the eradication phase. This phase is specifically designed to remove the root cause of an incident, such as deleting malware files, registry keys, and disabling malicious services from all affected systems, ensuring the threat is completely eliminated after containment has stopped its spread. On the Systems Security Certified Practitioner SSCP exam, this tests your understanding of the NIST SP 800-61 incident response lifecycle, where eradication sits between containment and recovery—a common trap is confusing it with remediation or recovery, but eradication is the dedicated malware removal phase. A helpful memory tip is to think of eradication as “cutting out the cancer” before healing begins: you contain the tumor, eradicate every cell, then recover the healthy tissue.
This SSCP practice question tests your understanding of incident response and recovery. 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.
After containing a malware outbreak, the incident response team needs to ensure the malware is completely removed from all systems. Which phase of the incident response process is this?
Post-Incident
Why wrong: Post-incident involves lessons learned and reporting.
Eradication
Eradication involves removing malware and closing vulnerabilities.
Detection
Why wrong: Detection is identifying the incident, not removing it.
Recovery
Why wrong: Recovery is restoring operations after eradication.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Eradication
The eradication phase is specifically focused on removing the root cause of the incident, such as deleting malware files, registry keys, and disabling malicious services from all affected systems. After containment (which stops the spread), eradication ensures the threat is completely eliminated before recovery begins. This aligns with the NIST SP 800-61 incident response lifecycle, where eradication follows containment and precedes recovery.
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.
Post-Incident
Why it's wrong here
Post-incident involves lessons learned and reporting.
Eradication
Why this is correct
Eradication involves removing malware and closing vulnerabilities.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Detection
Why it's wrong here
Detection is identifying the incident, not removing it.
Recovery
Why it's wrong here
Recovery is restoring operations after eradication.
Common exam traps
The trap here is confusing eradication with recovery, as candidates often think 'removing malware' is part of getting systems back online, but recovery only begins after the threat is fully eradicated to avoid restoring infected data.
Detailed technical explanation
During eradication, incident responders often use tools like Microsoft Sysinternals Autoruns to scan for persistence mechanisms (e.g., Run keys, scheduled tasks, WMI subscriptions) and manually delete malicious artifacts. In real-world scenarios, advanced malware may use rootkits or fileless techniques that require booting from a trusted ISO to remove hidden drivers or kernel-mode components. This phase must be thorough to prevent reinfection from dormant remnants that could trigger a new containment cycle.
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
Incident Response and Recovery — This question tests Incident Response and Recovery — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Eradication — The eradication phase is specifically focused on removing the root cause of the incident, such as deleting malware files, registry keys, and disabling malicious services from all affected systems. After containment (which stops the spread), eradication ensures the threat is completely eliminated before recovery begins. This aligns with the NIST SP 800-61 incident response lifecycle, where eradication follows containment and precedes recovery.
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 25, 2026
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.
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