Incident triage is one of the most critical steps in the incident response process. Before containment, eradication, or recovery can begin, responders must determine whether an alert represents real malicious activity and how urgently it needs to be addressed. Effective triage reduces noise, prioritizes real threats, and ensures that security teams focus on incidents that matter most.
What Is Incident Triage?
Incident triage is the process of reviewing and evaluating security alerts to determine:
- Is this event a true incident?
- What systems, users, or data are involved?
- How severe is the impact?
- What actions are needed next?
By answering these questions early, analysts prevent escalation of harmless events while ensuring that legitimate threats are handled quickly.
Goals of Triage
The primary goals of the triage process include:
- Validating the alert to confirm whether it’s malicious, suspicious, or benign
- Determining scope, such as which hosts, accounts, or networks are affected
- Assessing severity, based on business impact and threat capabilities
- Prioritizing actions so high-risk incidents receive immediate attention
- Escalating correctly, ensuring incidents reach the right responders or teams
Good triage improves both response time and accuracy across the entire incident lifecycle.
Common Triage Categories
To organize investigation efforts, incidents are often classified into levels or categories such as:
False Positive
Benign activity that triggered an alert incorrectly.
No further action is needed beyond documenting the result and tuning the detection if necessary.
Suspicious
Activity that requires additional investigation but does not clearly indicate malicious behavior.
True Positive (Confirmed Incident)
Clear evidence of compromise, malicious activity, or policy violation.
Requires escalation and full incident response procedures.
Benign True Positive
Activity that is unusual but legitimate, such as administrative behavior or a sanctioned security test.
Key Evidence Sources Used During Triage
Analysts rely on several types of information to evaluate alerts:
- Host logs (system, security, application logs)
- EDR telemetry (process actions, file activity, network connections)
- Network traffic (firewall logs, packet captures, DNS logs)
- Authentication logs (failed logins, MFA bypass attempts, account lockouts)
- Threat intelligence (known malicious IPs, domains, hashes)
- User activity (recent tasks performed by the affected user or host)
During triage, the goal is not a full investigation but fast, evidence-based decision-making.
Severity and Priority Assignment
Once validated, incidents are classified based on:
- Impact on business operations
- Sensitivity of affected systems or data
- Likelihood of spread or escalation
- Threat actor sophistication
- Regulatory requirements
This determines how quickly the team must respond and who needs to be involved.
Escalation to Full Incident Response
If triage confirms that the event is a true incident, the case is escalated for:
- Containment
- Eradication
- Recovery
- Communication with stakeholders
- Forensics and documentation
Well-executed triage ensures that responders have the context they need to act quickly and effectively.
Why Triage Matters
Strong triage processes result in:
- Faster response to real threats
- Reduced time wasted on false alarms
- Better prioritization and resource allocation
- Improved detection tuning and alert quality
- Higher confidence across the entire SOC
Triage is where incident response begins—and often where the success of the entire response effort is determined.