What is a cyber security incident response plan? The 6 phases of the incident response plan will teach you how to handle a data breach. An incident response plan is a written, documented plan with six separate steps that assist IT, professionals and staff, in recognising and responding to a cybersecurity issue such as a data breach or cyber assault. Regular updates and training are required to properly create and manage an incident response strategy.

A Cyber Incident Response Plan is a simple document that instructs IT and cybersecurity experts on what to do in the event of a security incident such as a data breach or a data leak. A comprehensive cyber incident response strategy is required for any organisation that is serious about cybersecurity. Based on research, experience, and training, this plan should be revised on a regular basis.

But how do you go about putting one together, and what are the six steps of an incident response plan that experts appear to be referring to? In this blog, we will attempt to address these critical issues in order to assist you in developing an effective reaction strategy to cyber assaults and security concerns.

A cyber incident response strategy should be developed assuming that your company may be targeted by cybercriminals at some point in the future.

What is the best way to build an incident response plan?

A phased incident response plan should be established to address a suspected data breach. There are certain areas of need that should be evaluated within each phase.

Preparation

Identification 

Containment

Eradication

Recovery

Learned Lessons

Let’s take a closer look at each phase and identify the issues that need to be addressed.

1. This phase of the cyber incident response plan focuses on preparing for a cyber security issue. You must connect the organization’s rules on personal information and sensitive data protection, as well as network security goals, with the organization’s technology architecture in this phase.

During this phase, you must guarantee that all employees have a basic understanding of cybersecurity as well as basic training in dealing with a cyber crisis. In the event of an emergency, everyone must be aware of their roles and responsibilities.

2. Recognization

This is the procedure for determining whether or not you’ve been hacked. A breach, also known as an incident, can occur in a variety of ways.

Concerns to be addressed

When did the incident take place?

How did it come to be discovered?

Who was the first to notice it?

Are there any other regions that have been impacted?

What is the compromise’s scope?

Does it have an impact on operations?

Has the event’s source (point of entry) been identified?

 

3. This phase entails whatever you can do to reduce damage after you’ve been struck.

You must examine what can be done to contain the breach’s effects during this step of the incident response strategy. What systems can be turned off? Is it possible to erase something safely, and should it be done so? What is your short-term plan? What is the long-term strategy for dealing with the attack’s consequences? In phase 3 of the cyber event response strategy, all of these questions must be addressed.

4. Complete Eradication

After you’ve contained the problem, you’ll need to locate and eliminate the breach’s fundamental cause. This means that all malware should be removed safely, systems should be hardened and patched anew, and updates should be installed.

Whether you do it yourself or hire someone to do it for you, you must be thorough. If any traces of malware or security flaws remain in your systems, you risk losing important data and increasing your liabilities.

Basically, this phase entails doing whatever it takes to guarantee that your systems are free of dangerous information. Make careful, though, that you don’t lose any important data in the process.

In today’s world, everyone can be attacked. However, if you continue to let malicious software or security issues develop in your system, the damage to your public image can be severe. Your legal culpability may also increase.

5. Recuperation

This is the procedure for repairing and reinstalling damaged systems and devices in your company’s environment. It’s critical to get your systems and business activities back up and running without risk of another breach during this time.

Concerns to be addressed

When will the systems be ready to go back into production?

Have you patched, hardened, and tested your systems?

Is it possible to restore the system from a reliable backup?

How long will you monitor the affected systems, and what will you check for throughout that time?

What technologies will be used to ensure that similar attacks do not occur again? (Intrusion detection/protection, file integrity monitoring, etc.)

6. Lessons Learned: We’ll go out on a limb and say this is one of the most crucial stages of the incident response strategy. Yes, anyone can be hacked and will be. It is, however, how we respond to the breach and what we learn from it that makes the difference.

During this phase, it’s critical to bring together all members of the Incident Response team and talk about what transpired. It’s like a look back at the attack. This step should be completed within two weeks of the incident. You’ll revisit the documentation you prepared in phase 2 in this phase. You can assess what occurred, why it occurred, and what steps were taken to contain the situation.

But, most significantly, the company must discuss whether anything might have been done differently during this era. Did the incident response strategy have any flaws? Was there a department or stakeholder who could have acted more quickly or in a different way? The goal of this phase is to learn from the attack so that it doesn’t happen again, and if it does, the issue is handled even better.