Incident Response Plan

An incident response plan is a documented set of procedures and guidelines for identifying, responding to, and managing incidents, such as cyber-attacks, natural disasters, or data breaches. The primary objective of this plan is to protect human lives and minimize harm during and after an incident.

It aims to minimize the damage caused by an incident, reduce recovery time, and ensure a consistent and organized approach to handling incidents. Therefore, it requires regular review, testing, and updating to ensure effectiveness and adapt to changing circumstances.

• An incident response plan is essential for organizations to prepare for potential security incidents. By defining roles, responsibilities, and procedures in advance, organizations can respond quickly and effectively to incidents.
• It outlines clear lines of communication between different departments and stakeholders, which can help to ensure that all necessary parties are informed and involved in the response effort.
• A well-documented plan can help organizations minimize the damage caused by a security incident by providing a structured approach to handling incidents.

An incident response plan is critical to an organization's security and risk management strategy. Integrating an incident response plan with other security-related intends ensures a comprehensive approach to handling unforeseen events. However, it can also pose several challenges, such as:

1. Development: Developing incident response plan phases requires a significant investment of time and resources, including input from various stakeholders such as IT, legal, and HR departments.
2. Resource Allocation: It requires personnel, technology, and budget. Allocating these resources in advance can be difficult, especially for smaller organizations, and can impact the plan's effectiveness.
3. Incident Identification: One of the biggest challenges of incident response is quickly and accurately identifying when an incident has occurred. It can be challenging in large organizations with complex systems and networks.
4. Communication: Effective communication is critical during an incident response but can also be challenging. The plan must outline clear and concise processes for communicating internally and externally with stakeholders and ensure that everyone involved understands their roles and responsibilities.
5. Evidence Preservation: Preserving evidence to ensure its admissibility in court is crucial, but it can also be challenging. Training incident responders must be there for proper evidence collection, preservation procedures, and access to the necessary tools and resources.
6. Testing and Update: Regular testing and updating of the plan are essential to ensure its effectiveness. However, it can also be challenging due to the time and resources required. Therefore, organizations must ensure that their plan is regular and updated to reflect changes in technology and organizational structure.

The following is a detailed explanation of the steps involved:

1. Preparation: Preparation is critical to a successful incident response. It consists of creating a plan, identifying the incident response team, assigning roles and responsibilities, and ensuring that all team members are fit for the project.
2. Identification: The next step is to identify that an incident has occurred. It can be achieved through monitoring systems and networks, receiving notifications from employees, or other means. Once an incident is identified, the incident response team should be notified, and the plan should be activated.
3. Containment: The objective of containment is to prevent the spread of the incident and limit the damage. It can include isolating systems, disconnecting networks, or taking other measures to stop the incident from spreading.
4. Analysis: After containment, the incident response team should begin a thorough examination of the incident to determine the cause, scope, and impact. This step is crucial for understanding the nature of the incident and for making informed decisions about the next steps.
5. Eradication: The next step is to eradicate the cause of the incident, which may involve cleaning up infected systems, patching vulnerabilities, or taking other measures to prevent a recurrence.
6. Recovery: The recovery phase involves returning systems and networks to normal operations. It can include restoring backup data, reconfiguring systems, and testing to ensure everything functions correctly.
7. Post-Incident Review: The final step is to conduct a post-incident review to evaluate the plan's effectiveness and identify areas for improvement. This step is critical for continuous improvement and ensuring that the program remains adequate.

Let us understand it in the following ways.

Example #1

Suppose a large multinational corporation experiences a data breach in which sensitive customer information is. It outlines the following steps for a data breach incident response plan:

• The corporation has an incident response team in place, consisting of individuals from IT, legal, and HR departments. The team has been trained on the plan and has access to the necessary tools and resources.
• The breach is identified when an employee notices suspicious activity on a network system. The incident response team is notified, and the plan is activated.
• The incident response team isolates the affected systems and disconnects them from the network to prevent the spread of the breach.
• The team analyzes the breach to determine the cause, scope, and impact. As a result, this determines a vulnerability in the system, which violates the sensitive information of 50,000 customers.
• The team patches the vulnerability and cleans up the infected systems.
• The team restores the affected systems from backups and tests them to ensure they function correctly.
• The incident response team conducts a post-incident review to evaluate the plan's effectiveness and identify areas for improvement.

Example #2

Another real-world example of an incident response plan is the WannaCry ransomware attack in May 2017. The attack affected over 200,000 systems in 150 countries, including hospitals, banks, and government agencies. The WannaCry ransomware attack caused widespread disruption and financial losses, and organizations with a well-documented plan were better equipped to respond and minimize the damage caused by the attack.

An incident response plan provides several benefits, including:

1. Improved Preparation: It helps organizations to prepare for potential security incidents by defining roles, responsibilities, and procedures. This preparation can significantly reduce an incident's impact and help organizations respond quickly and effectively.
2. Improved Communication: It outlines clear lines of communication between different departments and stakeholders. This ensures that all necessary parties are well aware of the response effort.
3. Reduced Damage: A well-documented plan can help organizations to minimize the damage caused by a security incident. The program provides a structured approach to handling incidents, which can reduce the likelihood of errors and missteps.
4. Compliance: Some industries, such as healthcare and finance, require the law to have such plans in place. It can help organizations to meet regulatory requirements and demonstrate their commitment to security.
5. Increased Confidence: It makes organizations believe they are ready to handle security incidents. This increased confidence can help organizations to avoid panic and reduce the risk of costly errors during an incident.
6. Improved Post-incident Review: It includes a post-incident review process, which can help organizations evaluate the response effort's effectiveness and identify areas for improvement.

Here's a comparison of the Incident Response Plan, Disaster Recovery Plan, and Business Continuity Plan:

#1 - Purpose

• Incident Response Plan: The purpose is to provide a structured approach for responding to security incidents and minimizing their impact.
• Disaster Recovery Plan: It aims to ensure the continued operation of essential business functions after a disaster or other disruptive event.
• Business Continuity Plan: A business continuity plan aims to ensure the continued operation of critical business functions during and after a disaster or other disruptive event.

#2 - Scope

• Incident Response Plan: The scope of such a plan is minimal to security incidents, such as cyber-attacks, data breaches, and malware outbreaks.
• Disaster Recovery Plan: The scope of a disaster recovery plan is broader and includes natural disasters, such as hurricanes, earthquakes, and floods, as well as human-caused events, such as fires, power outages, and equipment failures.
• Business Continuity Plan: The scope of a business continuity plan is the same as a disaster recovery plan, but it also includes strategies for maintaining critical business functions during a disaster.

#3 - Components

• Incident Response Plan: It typically includes steps for identifying, containing, and resolving security incidents, as well as communication and reporting procedures.
• Disaster Recovery Plan: A disaster recovery plan typically includes procedures for restoring critical systems and data after a disaster and transferring operations to a backup site.
• Business Continuity Plan: A business continuity plan typically includes disaster recovery and incident response components and strategies for maintaining critical business functions during a disaster, such as remote work policies and alternative communication plans.

#4 - Focus

• Incident Response Plan: It focuses on responding to and resolving security incidents.
• Disaster Recovery Plan: A disaster recovery plan focuses on restoring critical systems and data after a disaster.
• Business Continuity Plan: A business continuity plan focuses on maintaining critical business functions during and after a disaster.

This article has been a guide to What is Incident Response Plan. We explain its examples, steps, benefits, and comparison with a business recovery plan. You may also find some useful articles here -

• Operational Resilience
• Insider Threat
• Competency Mapping