What does the 'containment' phase in incident response aim to achieve?

The containment phase in incident response is a critical step that focuses on limiting the impact of an incident once it has been detected. The primary goal during this phase is to ensure that the threat does not propagate further and cause additional damage or loss. This may involve isolating affected systems, disabling features that can lead to further exploitation, or implementing temporary fixes to maintain system functionality and security.

By prioritizing the containment of an incident, organizations can minimize disruption, protect critical assets, and maintain service continuity while further investigation and eradication efforts are planned. This distinguishes it from other response phases such as eradication, which deals with completely removing the threat, and identification of the source, which involves analyzing how the breach occurred. The containment phase is thus a proactive measure to safeguard remaining systems and data against further compromise during the incident response process.