| Service | Primary goal | Typical limitation |
|---|---|---|
| Malware scan | Find suspicious patterns | Unknown or contextual persistence |
| Incident analysis | Assess scope, cause, and recurrence | Depends on logs and baselines |
| Forensics | Produce reproducible evidence analysis | Larger scope and formal handling requirements |
Operational remediation usually needs structured incident analysis. If employment, criminal, insurance, or court proceedings are foreseeable, determine early whether formal forensic preservation is required.
A scanner result is an indicator. Context and verification turn it into a defensible finding.
What does a malware scan provide?
A scan searches defined areas for known signatures, suspicious patterns, or integrity differences. It is repeatable and useful for prioritization. Its coverage stops where it lacks access, a signature, or a trusted comparison.
False positives and missed novel variants are possible. A hit also does not establish when the code appeared, who used it, or which data was reachable.
What does incident analysis add?
Incident analysis correlates scan results with component versions, identities, database content, logs, schedulers, hosting, and a timeline. It assesses cause, scope, persistence, and recurrence risk, separating confirmed findings from indicators and limitations.
That work supports defensible WordPress remediation but is not automatically court-ready forensics.
When is formal forensic work needed?
If evidence may support litigation, law enforcement, insurance, or employment proceedings, define scope, imaging, chain of custody, tools, and documentation early. Subsequent repair can alter evidential value.
Establish that requirement before cleanup. The methodology states the offered scope, while an indicator-based breach assessment remains distinct from evidence-preserving forensics.