Incident Response

Incident response refers to the planned policies and procedures security teams execute to address and manage the aftermath of a cybersecurity breach or attack. It represents a critical cybersecurity function as threats abound.

Effective incident response is crucial for limiting potential damages or losses when an individual has an account compromised from weak credentials or an organization experiences a network intrusion penetrating systems holding sensitive data. The speed and coordination applied to incident handling directly impacts exposure risk, restoration times and subsequent public scrutiny of practices. Thus preparedness through incident response planning correlates to institutional cyber resilience.

Key Concepts

Definition: 

Cybersecurity incident response involves the technical and administrative plans put into action for assessment, communications and remediation when a security policy violation or cyber event occurs.

Purpose: 

Incident response aims to methodically address threats to normalize operations and reinforce defenses post-incident while minimizing liabilities or interruptions.

Relevance: 

With cyber crime damages projected to cost $6 trillion annually by 2021, incident response represents essential organizational preparedness given increasing frequency of security events.

Components

Incident response extends across distinct phases occurring in order:

• Detection: The first step is discovering a potential security breach and confirming cause, scope and impacted assets through system alerts, user reports or other monitoring.
• Analysis: Once detected, immediate focus analyzes how attackers got access, what they affected plus traces steps to follow across networks. This shapes later containment and removal steps.
• Containment: Limiting an intruder’s mobility and further access represents a key early priority to stop threats spreading. Steps may involve firewall configuration, closing network access paths, account suspensions or fully disconnecting compromised segments.
• Eradication: Removing all elements of the attack follows, like wiping malware infections completely from systems to prevent persistence or future activation. Restoring data from backups assumes systems are clean.
• Recovery: With infections cleared, focus shifts to safely returning systems to normal function through account reinstatements, equipment replacements and operational restarts without threat remnants.

Examples

• A home computer is infected with ransomware that encrypts personal files for ransom. The owner isolates the infected device, wipes it fully by reimaging from external backups, changes account passwords after resetting the WiFi router and modem to prevent reinfection avenues when restoring data.
• A retailer suffers a data breach exposing customer transactions. They force password changes to mitigate compromised accounts, begin forensics tracing the attack footprint in systems and isolate/rebuild servers touched by the intrusion to remove lingering threats. Legal, PR and monitoring support customer communications.
• A factory faces an operational technology network intrusion amid production. Technicians immediately disconnect control systems from administration and external networks. With output unaffected, they can methodically rebuild separate operational controls safely.

Importance in Cybersecurity

Proper response minimizes harm from inevitable security issues:

• Personal: Quickly wiping or restoring infected systems from backups limits fraud losses or permanent data loss that hackers can leverage for identity theft down the road.
• Business: Containing incidents then methodically confirming eradication before recovery helps companies avoid IP loss, leaks of trade secrets or customer data alongside ensuring continuity of business operations.
• Infrastructure: Smooth execution of emergency response plans prevents digital troubles becoming public safety issues for hospitals, transportation networks or power grids where lives rely on systems working.

Mitigation Strategies

Effective preparation centers on planning, practice and monitoring:

• Planning: Maintain a living incident response guide detailing team roles, playbooks, communications protocols and third party support per breach type.
• Practice: Test effectiveness and teamwork of security/leadership personnel through frequent simulated incident response exercises modeled after real threats.
• Monitoring: Expand network oversight capabilities to detect anomalies faster through system activity log correlation and regular penetration testing regimes.
• Communications: Institute notification and status tracking procedures crucial for leadership, customers and authorities.

Best Practices

• Institute mandatory cybersecurity awareness education alongside simulated phishing and ransomware scenarios to keep employees alert to warning indicators
• Maintain recent backups offline enabling quick data restoration
• Constantly evolve network protections and monitoring sensitivities to address shifts in access avenues, malware techniques and employee behaviors
• Expand monitoring capabilities across devices, networks and user behaviors to speed detection
• Segment networks to limit lateral intruder movement opportunities

Related Terms

• Disaster Recovery: Developing steps to restore IT operations post-crisis
• Business Continuity: Maintaining organizational operations throughout disruptions

Further Reading

• CISA Booklet - Essentials of Incident Response
• NIST Guide - Computer Security Incident Handling

Incident response represents the ultimate test of institutional cybersecurity fluency. While savvy precautions aim to prevent intrusions outright, inevitability of threats means planning to address the aftermath of breaches holds similar importance. Just as with disaster recovery measures or business continuity planning, exercising effective incident response when cyber crises emerge minimizes harm enabling organizations to bounce back stronger than before.