At its core, cybersecurity is a game of defense. Criminals are continually probing organizations’ systems, software, and strategies, seeking vulnerabilities to exploit for technological and monetary gain. IT and cybersecurity departments repel these attacks on a daily basis for millions of companies around the globe.
One of the downsides of normal cybersecurity optics is that there is no press for breaches that were foiled, or for nefarious actors who were unable to gain access to a company’s network. When cybersecurity is in the news, it often means that something has been breached or hacked. Data is valuable to criminals and political leaders alike, and thus is always at risk. This is why a strong defensive posture and clear Incident Response Plan is so essential.
Defensive Posture and Data
Protecting company intelligence, employee information, and customer data is an exercise in locating weaknesses in one’s defensive posture and shoring up those areas by whatever means necessary.
IT Departments should regularly check the state of their networks, monitor traffic and login information, and patch and update all machines and software. Company security policies should be clear and effectively implemented, and address aspects such as Mobile Device Management and remote work security standards.
Everyone in the organization should be well-versed in these policies. Well-trained employees are key to effective data security in any organization. Fostering a culture of discretion and safety alongside having formal rules will go a long way to protect your sensitive data. Individual knowledge of cybersecurity best practices and signs of malicious activity is just as important as implementing security software, policies, and technical protections.
While security policies and training are indispensable, no organization is immune to all internal and external threats to their systems and data. This is where Incident Response Plans come in.
What is an Incident Response Plan?
The EC-Council defines Incident Response as “a structured approach to handle various types of security incidents, cyber threats, and data breaches.” When companies have a document that clearly outlines the process for responding to cybersecurity incidents, it helps limit confusion throughout the stressful situation of dealing with a breach or attack.
The document should explain which individuals to contact, the communication plan both within and outside the organization, and how to gather and collect documentation for any investigations that may result from the incident. A comprehensive Incident Response plan will help an organization get back online safely, mitigate data theft and destruction, and protect the organization’s reputation with employees, shareholders, and customers.
The value of the Incident Response Plan is not limited to the span of the incident itself; the plan should also cover steps after the recovery period. It is important to update one’s defensive posture and address the vulnerabilities exploited, as well as any other weaknesses found during the investigation.
Related – What Can We Learn From Data Breaches?
Cybersecurity Incident Response Team
The Incident Response Plan should outline who the point people are in the event of a incident, known as the Incident Response Team. The EC-Council outlines several categories of roles that should be filled on these teams:
- The Incident Response Manager oversees the team and the group handling the incident.
- Security Analysts work with the impacted networks within the company. This group is broken into two types of analysts: Triage analysts search for threats, and Forensic analysts handle evidence collection for the investigation after an incident.
- Threat Researchers gather information about the incident to provide insight and context.
This team maintains the Incident Response Plan, analyzes any incidents, and may handle communication between the company, media, shareholders, and customers about any developing incident. The team should also track information about company actions and mitigation steps for any regulatory or legal investigations later.
How Do You Structure an Incident Response Plan?
SANS offers an organized template to arrange an Incident Response Plan. The method outlined by SANS is a series of steps to handle concerns, from pre-incident to post-event. Briefly, these steps are:
Identification: Determining if a deviation from the norm is an incident, and assessing the threat level
Containment: Limiting further damage to the impacted systems and networks while protecting all other systems from damage
Eradication: Removing all malicious material and threats from the system
Recovery: Fully restoring the system to functionality without causing any additional harm
Lessons Learned: Completing documentation, learning from the incident to improve security and address the vulnerabilities that allowed the incident to take place, and updating the Incident Response plan to mitigate future incidents more effectively
For a more comprehensive look at these steps, read the SANS Incident Handler’s Handbook and look at other organizations’ Incident Response Plans that are available, such as Carnegie Mellon’s or templates such as that by the State of Michigan.
Data security incidents are bound to happen, so it is imperative that every organization have a plan in place to handle concerns both large and small. Spending the time to map out the responses before you and your team are in a dire situation can mean the difference between a minor incident and a company-shattering breach. Take the proper steps to protect your data now!
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