Incident response refers to the processes and technologies that an organization uses to detect and respond to cybersecurity incidents, such as cyberattacks, security breaches, and other cyber threats. The goal of incident response is to prevent cyberattacks before they happen and to minimize the impact of any that do occur.
One of the primary reasons why incident response is so important is that cyberattacks can have severe consequences for an organization. They can result in lost revenue, regulatory fines, and damage to a company’s reputation among other things. In some cases, they can even put an organization out of business entirely. By having a robust plan in place, organizations can minimize the impact of these incidents. They can also prevent them from escalating into full-blown disasters.
An organization should aim to define protocols and tools in a formal incident response plan (IRP). The IRP should outline precise procedures for detecting, containing, and resolving different types of cyberattacks. An effective incident response plan enables cybersecurity teams to swiftly detect and contain cyberthreats. As a result, it minimizes business disruptions and costs associated with such incidents. By reducing lost revenue, regulatory fines, and other costs associated with cyberattacks, an effective IRP can potentially save millions of dollars.
According to IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach 2022 Report, organizations with incident response teams and regularly tested incident response plans had an average data breach cost of $2.66 million USD lower than that of organizations without teams and IRPs.
Types of Security Incidents
Security incidents are any digital or physical breach that threatens the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of an company’s information systems or sensitive data. There are several types of security incidents that organizations may encounter. Here are some of the most common:
- Ransomware: Ransomware is a type of malware that locks up a victim’s data or computing device and threatens to keep it locked, or worse, unless the victim pays the attacker a ransom. According to IBM’s report, ransomware attacks rose by 41 percent between 2021 and 2022.
- Phishing and Social Engineering: Phishing attacks are digital or voice messages that try to manipulate recipients into sharing sensitive information, downloading malicious software, transferring money or assets to the wrong people, or taking some other damaging action. Phishing is the most costly and second most common cause of data breaches. It’s also the most common form of social engineering. Security Awareness Training is a great way to combat these attacks.
- DDoS Attacks: In a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack, hackers gain remote control of large numbers of computers and use them to overwhelm a target company’s network or servers with traffic, making those resources unavailable to legitimate users.
- Supply Chain Attacks: Supply chain attacks are cyberattacks that infiltrate a target organization through its vendors. This might include stealing sensitive data from a supplier’s systems or using a vendor’s services to distribute malware. Even though supply chain attacks are increasing in frequency, only 32 percent of organizations have incident response plans prepared for this particular cyber threat.
- Insider Threats: Insider threats are security incidents that involve authorized users who intentionally or unintentionally compromise a company’s information security. Malicious insiders are employees, partners, or other authorized users who intentionally compromise security. Negligent insiders are authorized users who unintentionally compromise security by failing to follow best practices.
Incident Response Planning
To effectively respond to security incidents, organizations should have an incident response plan in place. An IRP is a documented set of procedures and guidelines outlining how the organization should respond to a security incident. It should be created by a computer security incident response team (CSIRT) that includes representatives from various departments, such as IT, legal, human resources, regulatory compliance, and risk management, as well as the Chief Information Security Officer.
The CSIRT’s role is to develop and implement the IRP, including defining roles and responsibilities. It should also identify security solutions and result in a business continuity plan. Other important components are developing an incident response methodology, establishing a communication plan, and providing documentation instructions.
The components of an IRP typically include:
- Roles and responsibilities: Clearly define the roles and responsibilities of each member of the CSIRT. This includes identifying who is responsible for detecting and reporting security incidents, who is responsible for investigating and containing such incidents, and who is responsible for restoring systems afterwards.
- Security solutions: Identify and install security solutions such as firewalls, antivirus software, intrusion detection and prevention systems, and security information and event management (SIEM) systems.
- Business continuity plan: Establish procedures for restoring critical affected systems and data as quickly as possible in the event of an outage.
- Incident response methodology: Outline the specific steps to be taken at each phase of the incident response process, and by whom.
- Communication plan: Define the protocols for notifying company leaders, employees, customers, and law enforcement about security incidents.
- Documentation instructions: Establish procedures for collecting information and documenting incidents for post-mortem review and, if necessary, legal proceedings.
In addition to developing an IRP, organizations may also partner with external incident response service providers to supplement their in-house capabilities.
The Incident Response Process
The incident response process consists of six phases: Preparation, Detection and Analysis, Containment, Eradication, Recovery, and Post-Incident Review. Here’s an overview of each phase and the activities involved:
- Preparation: This phase involves developing an IRP and making sure that the CSIRT always has the best possible procedures and tools in place to respond to incidents as quickly as possible and with minimal business disruption.
- Detection and Analysis: During this phase, the CSIRT monitors the network for suspicious activity and potential threats. They analyze data, notifications, and alerts gathered from device logs and security tools, filtering out the false positives and triaging the actual alerts in order of severity. Most organizations today use security solutions such as SIEM and endpoint detection and response (EDR) to help automate the these processes.
- Containment: Once a security incident has been detected and analyzed, the CSIRT takes steps to stop the breach from doing further damage to the network. Short-term containment measures focus on preventing the current threat from spreading by isolating affected systems, while long-term containment measures focus on protecting unaffected systems by placing stronger security controls around them.
- Eradication: Once the threat has been contained, the CSIRT moves on to full remediation and complete removal of the threat from the system. This means eradicating the threat itself, such as destroying malware and booting rogue users from the network. Additionally, both affected and unaffected systems must be reviewed to ensure no traces of the breach are left behind.
- Recovery: Once the CSIRT is confident that the threat has been entirely eradicated, they restore affected systems to normal operations. This may involve deploying patches, rebuilding systems from backups, and bringing systems and devices back online.
- Post-Incident Review: Throughout each phase of the incident response process, the CSIRT collects evidence of the breach and documents the steps it takes to contain and eradicate the threat. At this stage, it is important to review all findings and to use that information to make the right adjustments to prevent an incident from happening again in the future.
In conclusion, incident response is a critical aspect of cybersecurity that must be taken seriously. Organizations must have a well-defined incident response plan in place to mitigate the impact of security incidents and quickly return to normal operations.
It is also important to note that the threat landscape is constantly evolving, and incident response plans must be regularly updated to reflect new risks and areas of vulnerability.
At EVERNET, we understand the importance of incident response planning and offer comprehensive cybersecurity solutions to help organizations protect their assets and respond to security incidents. Our team of experts can assist in developing an incident response plan tailored to your organization’s specific needs, ensuring that you are prepared to handle any security incidents that may arise.
At EVERNET Consulting, we are dedicated to helping organizations with their cybersecurity needs. We work diligently to find the solutions that best fit the needs of your business. Whether you’re looking for IT support, software recommendations, or guidance on how to implement your Incident Response Plan, we are here to help. Let’s schedule a discovery call and see how we can help you work smarter, not harder.
Eric is a Business IT cybersecurity advisor, consultant, manager, integrator, and protector who founded EVERNET in 2007. Eric co-hosts a podcast called “Finance and Technology Insights by Brian & Eric” on YouTube. Eric is a regular contributor to the EVERNET blog, writing about the latest technology news and providing his expertise in cyber security prevention and management. Meet with our CEO and say goodbye to one-size-fits-all IT support and cybersecurity.
