Below are the various steps involved in forensic readiness planning.

Forensic readiness planning focuses on ensuring an organization canlegally, efficiently, and reliablycollect usable digital evidence before an incident occurs. The planning sequence typically begins by definingwhat evidence would be neededto support likely incidents (3) and then mappingwhere that evidence residesacross systems, services, logs, endpoints, and network components (4). Once evidence needs and sources are known, readiness requires alegally compliant extraction pathwaythat minimizes business disruption and prevents evidence contamination (8). After defining extraction, an organization must formalizesecure handling and storage policies(chain of custody, access control, retention, integrity protection) so collected evidence remains admissible and trustworthy (7).

With those foundations in place, the organization can define decision criteria forwhen an event becomes a formal investigationand triggers deeper forensic procedures (6). A structureddocumentation processis then set so actions taken during acquisition and analysis are repeatable and defensible (2). Governance is reinforced by establishinglegal oversight/advisory supportto ensure compliance with jurisdictional requirements and internal policy (5). Finally, the plan is operationalized by ensuring anincident response team is preparedto preserve evidence promptly when incidents occur (1). Hence,3→4→8→7→6→2→5→1is the correct sequence.