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Security Operations · Foundational

Security Incident

An occurrence that actually or potentially jeopardizes the confidentiality, integrity or availability of information or systems, or violates security policy.

Definition

Incidents require response under the incident response plan and may include malware infections, unauthorized access, data breaches, denial of service and policy violations. Organizations define criteria and severity levels for declaring incidents. A breach is an incident involving confirmed disclosure of data.

Example

Ransomware encrypting a file server is a security incident.

Exam tip

Know event vs incident vs breach distinctions.

Don't confuse it with

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