What is the first step in the recovery phase of incident response?

Restoring systems from clean backups is indeed the first step in the recovery phase of incident response. This step is critical because it focuses on bringing systems back online in a secure and functional state after an incident. Before diving into other recovery actions, it is essential to ensure that any compromised systems are removed from the network and replaced with clean versions to prevent further security breaches or data loss.

This initial action sets the stage for a successful recovery, allowing the organization to regain operational capabilities while minimizing downtime. Once systems are restored, further steps, such as investigating the root cause or conducting a post-incident review, can take place, but these occur after the systems have been successfully secured and brought back online.