How to Create a Cyber Security Incident Response Plan

A cybersecurity incident response plan (CSIRP) is like a blueprint for your company to navigate through a cyberattack.

It's a roadmap that guides your incident response team through the crucial moments after a data breach, ensuring quick action and minimal damage.

In today's digital world, where threats are abundant and breaches can happen instantly, having a strong incident response plan is not just a good idea - it's a necessity.

This plan acts as a safety net, carefully crafted to identify, contain and eliminate threats while restoring normal operations with minimal disruption.

In this detailed blog post, we will explore the key elements of creating an effective incident response plan that can keep your organisation resilient against cyber threats.

What is an Incident Response Plan in Cyber Security?

A Cyber Security Incident Response Plan is an essential document that provides clear and precise instructions for IT security professionals on how to effectively respond to a security incident, such as data theft, data breaches or any cyber attack.

An incident response plan is a well-structured approach to addressing and managing cybersecurity incidents. It outlines the steps a company should take to identify, contain, eradicate, and recover from a security breach or attack.

The detailed response plan is designed to minimise damage, reduce recovery time, and limit the cost and impact of the incident on business operations.

As per the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), a basic incident response process should include key elements such as key contacts, escalation criteria, a basic flowchart or process, one conference number, and basic guidance on legal and regulatory requirements.

Why is Having an Incident Response Plan Important?

Incident response planning is important because it minimises the damage, ensures quick recovery, enhances the security posture, provides guidance on compliance requirements, and protects the business's reputation from cyberattacks.

Having an incident response plan is vital for several reasons:

1. Minimises Damage: A good incident response plan helps reduce the damage caused by serious security breaches and incidents. This protects the organisation's assets, reputation, and customers.

2. Ensures Compliance: Many laws and regulations require organisations to have an incident response plan and following these rules helps to avoid legal issues.

3. Enhances Preparedness: Regular training and updates implemented to the incident response process ensure the organisation is always ready to handle security incidents effectively.

4. Facilitates Quick Recovery: A predefined plan speeds up the disaster recovery process by outlining clear steps and responsibilities.

5. Improves Communication: Clear communication protocols ensure everyone knows what to do and who to contact during an incident.

7 Steps to Create an Incident Response Plan

Creating a successful response plan involves well-defined incident response phases to ensure comprehensive coverage of potential security incidents.

Here are seven key steps to developing an effective cyber incident response plan:

Step 1. Establish a Clear Incident Response Policy

The foundation of an incident-handling process is a well-defined policy. This policy should clearly outline what constitutes a security incident, differentiating between minor and major cyber incidents.

In addition, the categories include data breaches, malware infections, insider threats, and system outages. Each type of incident should have a designated severity level, such as low, medium, high, or critical, based on the potential impact of security events on the organisation.

Roles and Responsibilities

Businesses should clearly define the roles and responsibilities of each team member involved in the incident response process. This includes the senior management, incident response manager, IT security experts, legal team, and PR and communication specialists.

Also, each role and post-incident activity should have specific tasks and responsibilities to ensure a coordinated response from the incident response team members.

Communication Protocols

Next, businesses should develop communication protocols to be followed during a security incident. It includes how to report an incident, who to notify, and the methods of communication (e.g. email, phone, messaging apps).

Also, businesses should establish clear communication channels to ensure timely and efficient incident reporting and management.

Legal and Regulatory Compliance

Businesses should make sure their incident response policy meets relevant legal and regulatory requirements. This includes data protection laws, industry standards, and contractual obligations.

Step 2. Form an Incident Response Team

An effective incident response team (IRT) comprises members from various departments to address different aspects of an incident. The key incident response teams' roles in an IRT include:

Incident Response Manager: Leads the response efforts, coordinates between team members, and makes critical decisions.

IT Security Experts: Handle technical aspects, such as threat detection, containment, and eradication.

Legal Advisors: Ensure that the response actions comply with laws and regulations, and provide legal guidance.

PR and Communication Specialists: Manage internal and external communications to ensure accurate and timely information dissemination.

Each incident response team member should have a clear understanding of their role and responsibilities. This ensures a coordinated and effective incident response team, minimising confusion and delays during a security incident.

Step 3. Conduct a Risk Assessment

Identifying Critical Assets and Data

To conduct a risk assessment, businesses should identify critical assets and sensitive data within the organisation.

This includes sensitive information, intellectual property, financial records, relevant data, and critical systems. Understanding what needs protecting helps to prioritise efforts.

Assessing Vulnerabilities and Potential Impact

The next step in conducting a risk assessment is to evaluate the vulnerabilities within your systems and processes that attackers can exploit.

In addition, businesses should assess the potential impact of different types of incidents in their organisation, considering factors such as financial loss, reputational damage, and operational disruption.

Evaluating Existing Security Measures

Businesses should review the current security measures in place to protect the assets and data by identifying any gaps or weaknesses that need to be addressed.

The evaluation helps to tailor the incident response plan to address the most significant threats effectively.

Step 4. Develop Incident Response Procedures

Detection and Analysis

The next step is to develop IRP by creating procedures for detecting and analysing incidents. This includes setting monitoring tools, defining indicators of compromise, and establishing a process for initial analysis.

Containment, Eradication, and Recovery

Next, businesses should outline the steps for containing the threat to prevent further damage, eradicate malicious elements from their systems, and recover affected systems to normal operations.

Also, each step should be detailed and actionable, ensuring a swift and effective response to attacks.

Post-Incident Activities

For the post-incident process, businesses should document the security incident, including what happened, how it was handled, and the outcomes.

In addition, they should conduct a post-incident analysis to identify lessons learned and areas for improvement. Reporting and analysis help to prevent future incidents and improve the overall business continuity.

5. Implement Communication Strategies

Internal Communication

Businesses should develop strategies for internal communication to keep senior management and employees informed about the security incident and their roles in the cybersecurity incident response plan. This helps maintain order and ensures that everyone knows what to do.

External Communication

For implementing external communication in a cybersecurity incident response plan, businesses should plan how to communicate with customers, partners, and the media during an incident.

In addition, you should establish a clear and transparent communication to help maintain trust and manage the reputation of your organisation.

Regulatory Communication

As per the law, businesses should establish procedures for reporting incidents to relevant authorities. This includes notifying regulatory bodies, industry watchdogs, affected parties and other stakeholders.

6. Conduct Regular Training

Testing the Effectiveness of Your Plan

Businesses should regularly conduct training and simulation exercises, which are essential for testing the effectiveness of their incident response and disaster recovery plan.

They should conduct drills that mimic real-world scenarios to ensure that their team can respond effectively.

Identifying Gaps and Areas for Improvement

Businesses should use the results of training and drills to identify gaps and areas for improvement in their incident response plan.

This helps in refining procedures and ensuring that the team is well-prepared for a security attack or data breach.

Ensuring Familiarity with Roles and Responsibilities

Training ensures that all incident response team members are familiar with their roles and responsibilities in the cyber incident response process.

Regular updates to the training programme address new threats and changes in the cyber incident management plan, keeping the incident responders prepared for any cyber incident.

7. Review and Update the Plan Regularly

Incorporating Lessons Learned

After each incident or drill, businesses should review the incident response process and incorporate the learned lessons from the previous incidents into the plan.

Also, continuous improvement of the incident management plan helps to refine the response procedures and ensure effectiveness.

Reflecting Organisational Changes

Businesses should update the cybersecurity incident response plan to reflect changes in the organisation’s structure, technology, and threat landscape.

This includes changes in personnel, infrastructure, and future threats that may emerge.

Reviewing and Refining Procedures

Businesses should regularly review and refine response procedures and communication strategies.

Also, they should ensure that the CSIRP plan remains relevant and effective in addressing current threats and vulnerabilities.

Cybersecurity Incident Response Plan Checklist

The Cybersecurity Incident Response framework below is a combination of the recommended incident response frameworks defined in the NIST Computer Security Incident Handling Guide and the SANS Institute.

1. Preparation phase

• Establish an Incident Response Team (IRT): Businesses should designate roles and responsibilities to the security department. This should include members from IT, legal, PR, HR, and executive leadership.

• Develop Policies and Procedures: Businesses should create a detailed incident response policy with standard operating procedures (SOPs) for common security events.

• Train and Educate Staff: Businesses should conduct regular cybersecurity awareness training and simulate phishing attacks to test and train the security team.

• Identify Critical Assets: Businesses should keep track of all the inventory (hardware and software) and classify data by sensitivity and criticality.

• Set Up Monitoring and Detection: Businesses should implement intrusion detection systems (IDS), security information and event management (SIEM) tools. Also, they should regularly update antivirus and anti-malware software.

• Establish Communication Channels: Businesses should create an internal communication plan for security teams and prepare external communication templates for stakeholders and media.

2. Identification (Detection and Analysis)

• Detect Incidents: Businesses should utilise automated monitoring tools to detect anomalies and encourage response teams to report suspicious activities.

• Analyse and Validate: Businesses should confirm the incident through multiple sources and determine the scope, severity, and impact of the same incident.

• Document the Incident: Businesses should record details such as the security event, systems affected, and the type of attack, maintaining an incident log for tracking and reporting purposes.

3. Containment

• Short-term Containment: Organisations should isolate systems affected in the incident to prevent further spread and apply quick fixes such as disconnecting network traffic or disabling user accounts.

• Long-term Containment: Organisations should implement interim solutions that allow continued operation of unaffected systems and ensure data backups are not compromised and can be restored if necessary.

• Communication: Organisations should inform relevant stakeholders about the containment measures and update incident definitions, logs and documentation.

4. Eradication

• Identify Root Cause: Businesses should conduct a thorough investigation to pinpoint the source of the incident and utilise forensic tools and techniques.

• Remove Threat: Businesses should eliminate malicious code, compromised accounts, and backdoors and apply security patches and updates to affected critical systems.

• Improve Security Measures: Businesses should review and enhance security controls and update the cyber incident response plans based on lessons learned.

5. Recovery

• Restore Systems: Businesses should rebuild or restore systems from clean backups and verify the integrity of restored data.

• Monitor Systems: Businesses should implement heightened monitoring to detect signs of persistent threats and perform vulnerability scans and penetration testing.

• Communicate with Stakeholders: Businesses should provide updates on recovery progress and ensure transparency with customers, partners, and regulatory agencies if necessary.

6. Post-Incident Analysis

• Conduct a Post-Mortem: Businesses should conduct meetings with the incident response team to review the incident and analyse what worked well and what didn’t.

• Update Documentation: Businesses should revise incident response plans and procedures and document lessons learned and share them with relevant personnel.

• Implement Improvements: Businesses should address gaps identified during the post-mortem analysis and invest in additional training, security tools, and resources if needed.

• Review and Audit: Businesses should schedule regular reviews and audits of the incident response plan and ensure continuous improvement and preparedness for future attacks.

Additional Tips:

• Integration with Business Continuity Planning: Businesses should ensure that the incident response plan is aligned with the organisation’s business continuity and disaster recovery plans.

• Compliance and Legal Considerations: Businesses should consider relevant regulations and legal requirements, such as GDPR, HIPAA, or CCPA when developing the incident response plan.

Incident Response Plan Examples and Template

To assist you in creating a robust incident response plan, here are examples and a basic template to guide you:

Basic Incident Response Plan Template

Introduction

• Overview of the incident response plan.

Preparation

• Formation of the incident response team.

• Employee training and awareness programmes.

Detection and Analysis

• Tools and techniques for threat detection.

• Procedures for incident classification.

Containment, Eradication, and Recovery

• Containment strategies.

• Eradication procedures.

• Recovery steps.

Communication Plan

• Internal and external communication protocols.

• Media handling strategies.

Post-Incident Activity

• Incident documentation and analysis.

• Plan updates based on lessons learned.

Testing and Drills

• Regular simulation exercises.

• Review and improvement of the plan.

How Can Aztech Help Your Business?

Aztech specialises in cybersecurity solutions tailored to your business needs. Our services include:

Cyber Security Operations Centre (CSOC) Services: Monitoring and scanning your systems to identify suspicious activity using the most up-to-date tools & industry experts for maximised protection.

Penetration Testing Services: Take a deep dive into your systems to uncover issues, and vulnerabilities & test your security’s effectiveness against security attacks.

Cyber Security Awareness Training: Educate your employees on cyber security, how to stay vigilant against cyber threats and warning signs/risks of potential cyber-attacks.

Managed Detection & Response (MDR) Services: Providing real-time threat detection, incident response and continuous monitoring with security experts for proactive protection & immediate response capabilities.

Extended Detection & Response (XDR) Services: Faster, deeper, more effective threat detection response offering proactive approaches to shield against new threats.

Compliance as a Service (CaaS): Guarantee compliance with an all-encompassing approach to ensure your organisation is up to date with the latest industry standards and regulations.

Cyber Security Risk Assessment Services: Testing your organisation’s security for vulnerabilities in your IT systems and processes with best practice recommendations on how to lower the possibility of future attacks.

vCISO Services: Giving you the expertise of a highly skilled and experienced Virtual IT Director/Virtual Chief Information Security Officer as an extension of your team, for a fraction of the cost of hiring your own.

Vulnerability Management Services: Identifying and conducting regular assessments, reporting and evaluating vulnerabilities or misconfigurations within your systems and software to keep you one step ahead.

Identity & Access Management (IAM) Services: Providing you with centrally managed strong authentication measures whilst preventing unauthorised access to your digital assets.

Mobile Device Management (MDM) Services: Allows your users to work on any device whilst helping you take control of devices to ensure your sensitive data is protected.

Dark Web Monitoring Services: Continuous monitoring of the Dark Web to ensure your business’ credentials are safe from cyber threats whilst letting you know which credentials have been compromised.

Advanced Email Protection Services: Safeguard your organisation against cyber threats to your email system through a secure gateway.

Cloud App Security Services: Allows you to monitor and manage your cloud-based applications in real-time whilst protecting your sensitive data.

Firewall as a Service (FWaaS): This gives you a level of visibility and control over your applications that a traditional network firewall can’t match.

SaaS Protection Services: Providing an advanced independent all-in-one backup, restore and export solution to avoid common serious data breach and loss pitfalls.

With Aztech, you can ensure your business is prepared to handle security incidents effectively.

Final Thoughts

Creating a well-crafted incident response plan is essential for protecting your business from cybersecurity threats and is not a one-time task but an ongoing process.

By following these seven steps in detail, incident response teams can build a comprehensive and effective incident response plan that safeguards your organisation against cyber threats.

Establish a clear policy, form a dedicated team, conduct a thorough risk assessment, develop detailed procedures, implement effective communication strategies, conduct regular training, and continuously review and update the plan to ensure your business is well-prepared to handle any security incident.

For more information regarding the development of a cybersecurity incident response plan, you can reach out to our security experts. To discuss further, schedule a call today!