The Importance of Incident Response Plans

Did you know that a new ransomware attack is launched every 11 seconds? In fact, cybercriminals will have stolen 33 billion records by 2023 and each year 60 million Americans are impacted by identity theft! 

A great way to counteract cyber threats is to have a solid plan in place to detect, respond, and recover from attacks. Establishing detailed policies and having the right people, resources, and procedures in place is key to a proactive approach in cybersecurity. The following sections provide information to keep in mind while creating an Incident Response Plan.  

Inventory, Identify, Respond, Record, Train 

The threat of downtime, loss of data, physical threats, and damaged reputations demonstrate why an incident response plan is essential to help mitigate risks. 

Your infrastructure, hardware, software, and employees are all critical components that should have a response strategy. Plans should prepare your organization for any situation that could arise.  

Do you have an incident response team? This might include your IT department, employees with admin credentials, and decision makers. Employees who are collecting or analyzing data are also great to assign as your incident response team. Be sure to contact an attorney to ensure you are meeting legal compliance requirements for data protection and retention. Once your response plans are in place, training should be held for employees on an annual basis. Your incident response team should also review your policies quarterly to keep up with your changing environment. 

Creating your Incident response plan 

The plan can include the following:  

• A list of the names, contact information, and responsibilities for each member of your incident response team  
• A summary of your company’s tools, technologies, and physical resources  
• A list of critical network and data recovery processes  
• An incident triage matrix, which will help your team prioritize incidents quickly and correctly  
• Procedures for reporting and responding to a suspected incident 
• Detailed network maps and backup policies 
• Step by step process to recover your backups (Disaster Recovery) 
• Contingency plans in the event that you need to replace hardware or recover passwords 

If this article leaves you with more questions than answers, email sales@scsiusa.com today to start planning!