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A security incident can topple an organisation’s reputation and revenue in a short amount of time. As billionaire Warren Buffet once said, “it takes 20 years to develop a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.” Keeping that in mind, it’s ideal to have an incident response plan in place before a security breach occurs.

An incident response plan is a set of instructions intended to facilitate an organisation in detecting, responding to and recovering from network security incidents such as cybercrime, data loss and service disruptions. Having a plan in place contributes to the development of cybersecurity as well as overall organisational resilience.

Recommended Read: How can Cyber Resilience Help SMEs in Ireland

Since most small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) have limited resources and funds, incident response is usually given less attention. However, failing to respond swiftly and effectively when a cyberattack occurs can cost far more than putting an incident response plan in place.

Essential Elements of an Incident Response Plan

Every incident response plan should include the following five key elements to successfully address the wide range of security issues that an organisation can face:

Incident Identification and Rapid Response

It’s critical to evaluate the threat effectively and decide whether to implement the incident response plan. This requires two prerequisites:

• An authorised person to initiate the plan
• An online/offline place for the incident response team to meet and discuss

The sooner the incident is detected and addressed, the less severe the impact.

Resources

In case of a cyber event, an incident response team will usually have emergency kits on hand and have the following resources to help navigate through the event:

• Tools to take all machines offline after forensic analysis
• Solutions to regulate access to the organisation’s IT environment and keep hackers out of the network
• Measures to employ standby machines to ensure operational continuity

Knowing what resources you will need and having them ready in these circumstances could be critical for recovery.

Roles and Responsibilities

An incident could occur in the middle of the night or at an unexpected time, such as the busiest week of the year for your business. That’s why it’s critical to establish the roles and responsibilities of your incident response team members. They could be called in at any time. You must also have a reserve team in case any of the primary contacts are unavailable.

In the event of a cyber incident, time is critical, and everyone must know what to do. You must insist on the importance of accountability both within your team and with external providers and partners.

Detection and Analysis

This is, without a doubt, one of the most crucial elements of an incident response plan. It emphasises documenting everything, from how an incident is detected to reporting, analysing, and containing the threat. The aim is to create a playbook that includes approaches for detecting and analysing a wide range of risks.

Containment, Eradication and Recovery

• Containment specifies the methods for restricting the incident’s scope. A ransomware attack, for example, must be tackled very differently compared to an insider threat.
• Eradication is all about techniques to eliminate a threat from all affected systems.
• Because incidents cannot always be prevented, recovery efforts concentrate on reducing potential harm and resuming operations as quickly as possible. Learn more about Disaster Recovery.

Considerations for an Incident Response Plan

An incident response plan must address any concerns that arise from an evolving threat landscape. Before you start crafting your plan, there are several considerations to be made, including:

• Building an incident response plan should not be a one-off exercise. It should be reviewed regularly to ensure that it considers the most recent technical and environmental changes that may influence your organisation.
• Your incident response plan and the team working on it must be supported and guided by top management.
• It’s critical to document the contact information of key personnel for emergency communication.
• Every person in the incident response team must maintain accountability.
• Deploy the appropriate tools and procedures to improve the effectiveness of the incident response.
• Your security, backup and compliance postures must all be given the same attention.

Related Article: Becoming a Resilient Organisation

We live in an era where only resilient organisations can navigate through all the complexities created by technological advancements and other unexpected external influences. That’s why having an incident response plan is essential.

Trying to develop and deploy an incident response plan on your own might be tricky, and this is not a situation where you can afford to make mistakes. Partnering with a specialist can take the load off your shoulders and give you the advantage of having an expert by your side. Contact us today to schedule a discovery call, where our team will understand more about your challenges and guide you through our process.

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