Which activity is crucial for the preparation phase of an incident response plan?

Training and educating staff is a critical activity for the preparation phase of an incident response plan because it helps ensure that all team members understand their roles, responsibilities, and the procedures they need to follow during an incident. Effective training empowers staff with the knowledge of potential threats and the organization's specific response protocols, which is essential for minimizing response time and increasing the effectiveness of the response when an incident occurs.

Additionally, by providing education and training, organizations can cultivate a security-conscious culture among employees, reducing the likelihood of incidents caused by human error. This foundation of knowledge fosters better communication and collaboration during actual incidents, making it easier for staff to implement the incident response plan efficiently and effectively.

The other activities mentioned, while important, fall under different phases of incident management. Conducting a post-incident review lends itself to the recovery phase, gathering external intelligence is part of the preparation and ongoing monitoring but is not the focus of the preparation phase alone, and executing containment strategies is part of the response phase that occurs once an incident has been detected. Thus, training and educating staff is uniquely pivotal in establishing a well-prepared incident response.