Incident response is a word both well-known and dreaded by anyone well-versed with the processes and terminology of the world of cybersecurity. Referring to the methodology used to handle security incidents, breaches, data leaks and other threats, cybersecurity incident response is, essentially, your doomsday plan or strategy.
Within this process, there are a few crucial stages: Identifying attacks, minimising potential and actual damage, and then remedying the vulnerabilities that lead to the attack in the first place and adopting long-term preventative measures.
If you’re not familiar with the major aspects of a cybersecurity incident response plan or don’t have one yourself, this post is the perfect place to start.
The first element of any cybersecurity incident response plan is identifying that a cybersecurity attack is happening or has happened. In this process, your security teams or external cybersecurity service providers will take the lead to identify the cause of the attack and begin remedial action.
While attacks can be identified by security personnel, nowadays, this process is automated and undertaken by advanced security software, anti-malware scanners, and file integrity checking software, to name just a few of the tools we use.
During this stage, companies will usually be issued an alert about the attack and asked to remain on standby.
This process is generally one that spans from the immediate moment a cyberattack is detected and extends to months down the line, depending on the effects of the cybersecurity incident and the nature of the attack.
Among the many steps taken, security teams may isolate networks that are being attacked or shut down servers to prevent the attack from spreading to other areas. Usually, infected or affected systems are immediately backed up before they’re wiped clean completely.
After immediate remedial action is taken, the next step will be to focus on getting crucial or affected systems up and running so your operations can resume without too much delay. Long-term fixes will include deeper investigation and analysis of the incident and shoring up your defences in the specific places that were exploited and remedying other vulnerabilities.
While the immediate remedial stage is important, your long-term recovery strategy needs to be a part of your cybersecurity incident response plan - otherwise, history will just keep repeating itself.
To begin this process, it’s important to sit down with all your teams and reflect on what you’ve learned from this incident and what changes need to take place to prevent similar and other types of attacks in the future.
Here, consider how you need to update or commence employee training on cybersecurity threats, detect underlying vulnerabilities within your systems, and what new practices you and your teams need to embrace to prevent further cybersecurity incidents.
Not everything has to be all doom and gloom, though. In this process, you must also consider which parts of your incident response plan worked well for you and how you can improve these processes.
Information-sharing
One feature you need to ensure is part of your response strategy is information-sharing and collaboration across your teams. This reflects one of the core tenents of any cybersecurity strategy - you can’t work in silos.
In order to give full effect to your incident response plan, you need to make sure that everyone is on the same page - otherwise, you will suffer from the consequences of poor coordination, which, in most cases, is further cybersecurity attacks.
Automation
By automating certain processes and workflows within your cybersecurity incident response plan, you free up time and resources to attend to more important parts of your security operations and allow your advanced security software do most of the crunching.
Flexible and adaptable policies
Another important element of your strategy is flexible policies that can deal with a range of attacks or threats. The last thing you need in the midst of an attack is realising that your strategy is ill-suited for the matter at hand.
In order to ensure your strategy is flexible, keep updating it according to the latest cybersecurity trends, knowledge, best practices and other industry standards.
If you’re unsure how to formulate a well-rounded incident response strategy, there’s no reason for you to go through an endless cycle of trial and error. Leave your strategy in our hands; we help you prepare for numerous cybersecurity attacks and respond effectively in the event that the worst happens.