What is an incident response plan?
An incident response plan (IRP) is a detailed framework that provides clear, step-by-step guidelines to detect, contain, eradicate, and recover from security incidents.
How do incident response plans make your organization safer?
IR plans help your organization prepare for, defend against, and bounce back from a wide range of serious security incidents, such as
Cyberattacks: Ransomware, phishing, DDoS, SQL injection
Data breaches: Unauthorized access, data exfiltration
System failures: Hardware failures, software bugs, network outages
Insider threats: Employee negligence, malicious insider actions
Natural disasters: Fires, floods, earthquakes, power outages
Human error: Accidental data deletion, misconfiguration
Supply chain attacks: Compromised third-party vendors
By guiding your team before, during, and after security incidents, incident response planning allows you to react more quickly, mitigate damage, and improve your security performance over time.
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Incident response plans vs. policies vs. playbooks
Let’s recap three essential terms when it comes to incident response: “IR policy,” “IR plan,” and “IR playbook.” This diagram will help you understand the key differences and dependencies between the three concepts at a glance:
Incident response policy
An incident response policy outlines your organization’s high-level approach to managing security incidents, designating key personnel, and providing standardized, high-level guidelines for effective and timely response.
Level of detail: Low; this is a very abstract document.
How many?: An organization will generally have only one IR policy.
When is it used?: As reference when creating IR plans and playbooks to ensure that all actions follow organization-wide guidelines and meet strategic goals. It can also demonstrate your incident response program’s adherence to regulatory and industry standards.
Incident response playbook
IR playbooks provide you with a detailed, step-by-step guide for handling specific incident types, such as malware or a natural disaster. By outlining predefined actions, roles, and communication protocols, playbooks enhance response efficiency, coordination, and effectiveness.
Level of detail: High; this document outlines step-by-step responses to eliminate confusion and direct predefined responses in the heat of a live incident.
How many?: An organization will probably have many incident response playbooks, one for each likely scenario, although there may be some overlap among scenarios. For example, a single malware playbook may cover a wide range of malware types (e.g., ransomware, spyware, trojans).
When is it used?: During an incident, security teams will consult the playbook to determine their precise actions. During a DDoS attack, for instance, playbook steps might include throttling or filtering network connections to limit traffic, coordinating with the ISP, monitoring the network for ongoing attacks, and implementing countermeasures like blacklisting or rate limiting.
Incident response plan
An incident response plan gives you more detailed guidelines for handling security incidents. It outlines step-by-step procedures for detection, containment, eradication, and recovery, defining roles, communication channels, escalation paths, and post-incident review processes. The rest of this article explores what goes into your organization’s IR plan and best practices to help you create one that will help, not hinder, your incident response team’s efforts.
Level of detail: Medium; this document provides general information on point people and tools without detailed steps.
How many?: An organization may have a single incident response plan that covers a wide range of scenarios. However, multiple incident response plans may be required for different business units, particularly if they are large, with separate IT/Security departments and/or if multiple geographic locations need protection.
When is it used?: It is used during the initial incident response phases, such as when a security breach is discovered, to help assign roles and determine clear communication channels prior to beginning to implement specific steps.
How to Draw Up an Incident Response Policy: An Actionable Checklist for Cybersecurity Professionals
Learn how to create your own company incident response policy to prepare and prevent against an attack on your IT systems in this complete guide.
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Key components of an incident response plan
Experts recommend starting with an industry-recognized incident response framework to guide you through all the phases that must be included in any IR plan. That way, nothing will fall through the cracks. Recognized incident response frameworks include NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) Special Publication 800-61, SANS Institute Incident Handler’s Handbook, ISO/IEC 27035, and MITRE ATT&CK.
Here, we’ll use NIST’s four-phase incident response lifecycle. Note that this is not the same as the NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF), which provides a high-level structure for managing cybersecurity risk across an organization. Instead, the NIST incident response lifecycle outlines the steps involved in responding to a cybersecurity incident, as shown in the following diagram:
Preparation
Define incident categories and corresponding severity levels.
Assemble an incident response team, outlining roles, responsibilities, and reporting structures.
Establish and test communication channels for stakeholders.
Key security team responsibility: Develop and maintain incident response procedures and guidelines.
Detection and analysis
Monitor systems for signs of unusual activity.
Identify, verify, and gather data on suspected security incidents.
Gather and review data—using dashboards and other tools for optimum visibility—to determine incident scope and impact.
Key security team responsibility: Implement and maintain security monitoring tools to detect potential incidents.
Containment, eradication, and recovery
Isolate and contain affected systems to block further damage.
Eliminate the threat and restore system integrity.
Collect and preserve digital evidence.
Key security team responsibility: Work with technical teams (IT, operations) to implement containment measures and secure evidence.
Post-incident activity
Conduct a comprehensive incident review.
Document incident details and actions taken in response.
Implement improvements to enhance response to future incidents.
Key security team responsibility: Lead the post-incident review process and develop recommendations for improvement.
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Incident response planning best practices that most teams overlook
When creating a cybersecurity incident response plan, many teams miss some crucial best practices that can significantly enhance their preparedness and response effectiveness. Here are some often-overlooked aspects to consider:
1. Communication strategy
One of the most frequently overlooked elements is a comprehensive communication strategy. This should include:
Clear guidelines on who needs to be informed about a security breach
Specified communication channels to be used
Defined levels of detail to be provided to different stakeholders
Procedures for informing operations, senior management, affected parties, law enforcement, and the media
A thorough communication plan can eliminate confusion and speed up response times during an incident.
2. Centralized approach
Many organizations fail to implement a centralized approach to incident response. This oversight can lead to:
Analysts logging into multiple tools during an attack
Difficulty in correlating information from different sources
Delayed response times due to scattered data
Implementing a centralized incident response process where all relevant information is viewable in one place can greatly enhance efficiency and effectiveness.
3. Regular testing and drills
While many teams create incident response plans, they often neglect to put them to the test on a regular basis. Conducting realistic drills and exercises is crucial for:
Identifying gaps in the plan
Ensuring team members understand their roles
Testing the effectiveness of incident response tools
Adapting the plan based on lessons learned
4. Incident documentation system
Establishing a robust incident documentation system is non-negotiable. This system should include:
An incident handlers journal for each team member
Documentation of what happened, where it happened, who responded, how they responded, and the rationale behind their response
A system for gathering evidence that could be useful in potential lawsuits
Proper documentation not only helps in evaluating current efforts but also informs and improves future response strategies.
5. People-centric planning
Many incident response plans focus heavily on technical aspects and fail to provide clear-cut directions for the people involved. A comprehensive plan should:
Define roles and responsibilities for both technical and non-technical team members
Include leadership, communication, and regulatory support roles
Establish clear communication channels between technical teams and senior stakeholders
By addressing these often-overlooked aspects, organizations can create more robust and effective cybersecurity incident response plans, better equipping teams to handle potential security breaches.
Navigating Incident Response Frameworks: A Fast-Track Guide
An incident response framework is a blueprint that helps organizations deal with security incidents in a structured and efficient way. It outlines the steps to take before, during, and after an incident, and assigns roles and responsibilities to different team members.
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Plan better: Get Wiz on your team for faster, more effective cloud incident response
Wiz is a cloud security platform that provides deep visibility into vulnerabilities and misconfigurations that threat actors could exploit.
As a cloud native application protection platform (CNAPP), Wiz consolidates essential security tools so you can proactively identify, prioritize, and respond to threats. Wiz gives you:
Agile incident response with cloud-native detection and response capabilities
Clear prioritization and actionable insights through contextualized threat detection
Faster incident investigation with cloud forensics and root cause analysis
Because Wiz helps you quickly assess potential damage as part of your incident response efforts, you can reduce the blast radius and get back up and running faster.
What makes Wiz different?
Made for cloud, unlike traditional solutions that might struggle to adapt
Pre-built incident response playbooks to get your organization back on its feet faster
Automated impact assessment, including blast radius and root cause analysis, with the Wiz Security Graph
With Wiz, you’re in control across your entire cloud stack, with deeper, broader context on the risks that matter. That makes your security team’s work simpler when it comes to putting your well-organized incident response plan into action.
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