Incident Triage

Incident triage is the process of prioritizing and categorizing cybersecurity incidents based on their severity, impact, and urgency to determine appropriate response actions.

This critical function ensures that security teams allocate their limited resources effectively by addressing the most critical threats first.

During incident triage, security analysts evaluate factors such as the type of attack, affected systems, potential data exposure, business impact, and threat actor sophistication. Incidents are typically classified using severity levels ranging from low to critical, with corresponding response timeframes and escalation procedures.

Effective triage requires standardized criteria, clear decision-making frameworks, and often automated tools that can quickly assess and categorize alerts. Many organizations implement Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) platforms to streamline this process, reducing response times and human error.

The triage process also involves initial containment decisions, such as isolating affected systems or blocking suspicious network traffic, while gathering additional intelligence to inform the full incident response. Proper triage is essential for maintaining operational efficiency in Security Operations Centers (SOCs) and preventing minor incidents from escalating into major breaches due to delayed response.