An incident response manager has started to gather all the facts related to a SIEM alert showing multiple systems may have been compromised. The manager has gathered these facts: The breach is…

Recovery involves restoring systems to normal operation after the threat has been eradicated, which has not yet occurred in this scenario.

Eradication involves removing the root cause of the incident (e.g., deleting malware, disabling compromised accounts), but the manager is still assessing scope rather than removing threats.

Containment involves actively limiting the spread of the incident (e.g., isolating affected systems), but the manager is still in the fact-gathering stage, not yet taking containment actions.

The Identification phase involves detecting, analyzing, and documenting the scope of an incident - determining what systems are affected, what accounts may be compromised, and notifying stakeholders. The manager is still gathering facts (six PCs, one service account, executive notification) rather than taking action to stop or remove the threat, which are hallmarks of later phases.