How to Handle an Incident Response: Steps for Worst-Case Scenarios

Knowing what to do during an incident and having a well-prepared incident response plan is essential.

No organization can claim to be completely safe from a breach. With today’s large attack surfaces and persistent cybercriminals, it’s more a question of “when” than “if” a breach will happen. However, a breach doesn’t have to mean a game over for the business.

By carefully planning and regularly testing your cyber security incident response plan, you can detect and contain an attack before it causes serious financial or reputational damage. The key is to have a solid cyber incident response plan in place and know what actions to take when danger strikes.

Call in the Experts When critical systems fail or security alarms go off, the priority is to quickly disconnect the network to stop the attack from spreading. If it can’t be done digitally, systems should be physically unplugged.

It’s important not to shut down servers, as this could erase crucial data that incident response teams may need later.

This is when you should bring in an incident response team to investigate, contain the attack, and safely restore systems. Most businesses turn to third-party professionals rather than trying to handle everything in-house.

This can be an extremely stressful time for those affected. With the company’s future possibly at risk, staying calm is essential. In high-pressure situations, even well-prepared emergency plans might be forgotten.

Keep Calm and Carry On Professional security incident response teams have the experience to manage cyber incidents effectively. Their coordinated approach is critical at this point. One person needs to take charge, stay calm, and give clear instructions. A third-party expert, who isn’t emotionally involved, is usually the best fit for this role.

Ensure you have enough staff to handle what could be a heavy workload. Incident response operations often need round-the-clock security monitoring for several days, which can only be managed through rotating shifts.

You’ll also need expertise from multiple fields. Besides IT forensics, there may be a need to communicate with the cybercriminals. While paying a ransom is usually discouraged, talking to the criminals can sometimes buy time or provide more information about the breach.

Choosing the Right Incident Response Team Finding the right incident response partner is crucial. Don’t wait until an attack happens to start looking for help, as IR experts are in high demand and many face staffing shortages. It’s important to have a contract in place ahead of time to ensure help is available during an emergency.

Organizations should set up an IR retainer with their chosen provider, covering a fixed number of days, and establish clear response times through Service Level Agreements (SLAs). It’s also wise to have contacts with a couple of other IR providers as backups in case your primary partner is unavailable.

Start with the Data Professional incident responders need to determine what happened, when it occurred, and how it happened. To stop a cyber attack quickly, they’ll need to know which systems are affected. Reliable data is essential for this. Windows Event Logs alone won’t cut it, as attackers often manipulate these files.

Telemetry data from security systems monitoring endpoints and networks is critical. This data should be centralized in platforms like XDR or SIEM for the fastest and most accurate response.

Finding the initial point of attack, or “Patient Zero,” helps companies learn from mistakes and fix vulnerabilities for the future. Even after systems are restored, it’s important to keep monitoring in case the attacker is still hiding and trying to move around the network.

Prepare the Whole Company To make it through a serious cyber attack without major damage, careful preparation is key. A detailed cyber incident response plan is a must-have for any cybersecurity strategy. This plan shouldn’t just involve the IT team but should include the entire company.

Who will report the breach to the authorities? Who will inform affected customers and partners? Who will handle public communication during the crisis? All of these roles need to be clear before an incident occurs.

It’s important to involve legal, PR, marketing, the data protection officer, and senior management in your planning. A good emergency plan outlines responsibilities so everyone knows exactly what to do if the worst happens. Business Continuity plans can also be helpful.

Regularly Review, Update, and Test Many companies already have an emergency IR plan, but it may not be up to the challenge. For example, do you know if your backup systems are secure? How long would it take to restore from an offline backup? Is that method even cost-effective?

Your incident response plan should consider various scenarios and outline alternative actions: “If A doesn’t work, we do B.” It’s also important to set up a secure communication channel outside of the company’s IT system in case email or other systems are compromised. A tool like Signal is a good option.

Make sure your security incident response plan is always accessible and stored offline to prevent it from being encrypted in an attack. The plan should include an up-to-date map of your IT environment and be regularly reviewed and updated. Simulating live attacks through red or purple team exercises can help test whether the plan works in practice.

Meeting Compliance Standards A solid incident response plan not only helps companies survive cyber-attacks with minimal impact but also ensures compliance with regulations like the NIST incident response framework. This framework outlines best practices for handling cybersecurity incidents, making it an essential part of building resilience against future attacks. Additionally, the NIS2 directive mandates these measures for critical infrastructure providers. Article 21, Paragraph 2 requires businesses to have Incident Handling, Backup Management, Disaster Recovery, and Crisis Management in place to ensure security during a cyber incident.