You have just been hired to perform a pen test on an organization that has been subjected to a large-scale attack. The CIO is concerned with mitigating threats and vulnerabilities to totally eliminate

Attribution of attackers is a forensic or threat intelligence activity that typically occurs after an incident response, not as a first step in scoping a penetration test.

Interviewing all employees is a time-intensive insider threat investigation process that is outside the typical scope and first steps of a penetration test engagement.

No organization can achieve zero risk because new threats, unknown vulnerabilities, and human factors always introduce residual risk. Before beginning any engagement, a penetration tester must establish scope and expectations, which includes informing the CIO that the goal is to reduce risk to an acceptable level rather than eliminate it entirely. Failing to set this expectation leads to unrealistic success criteria and poor security decision-making.

Launching Wireshark to capture traffic is a technical reconnaissance activity that should only begin after the rules of engagement, scope, and legal authorization have been formally established.