Unfortunately, there are no perfect incident response procedures; every business has different risk levels. However, it is necessary to have a successful incident response procedure, so companies can keep their data safe.
The Cost of Slow Response
According to IBM’s 2021 Cost of Data Breach Report, the average cost of a data breach is the highest in over 17 years. In 2020, this number rose to $3.86 million and was attributed primarily to the increase in individuals doing remote work. Aside from this, one of the critical factors of this increased security risk involved compromised employee credentials.
However, for organizations that have implemented robust cloud modernization strategies, the estimated threat containment timeline was 77 days faster than less prepared companies. According to the report, organizations with security AI detection systems in place also reported savings of up to $3.81 million from threat mitigation.
This data demonstrates that while the risk of security threats never goes away, businesses can contain it. One of the key factors for effective security risk reduction is having a solid incident response procedure.
Critical Steps of an Incident Response Procedure
Dozens of measures are available to secure data and protect your business. However, here are the five critical steps of building a bulletproof incident response procedure.
Preparation
As with all types of battles, cybersecurity is a game of preparation. Long before an incident occurs, trained security teams should know how to execute an incident response procedure in a timely and effective manner. To prepare your incident response plan, you must first review your existing protocols and examine critical business areas that could be targeted in an attack. Then, you must work to train your current teams to respond when a threat occurs. You must also conduct regular threat exercises to keep this training fresh in everyone’s minds.
Detection
Even with the best preparation, breaches still happen. For this reason, the next stage of an incident response procedure is to actively monitor possible threats. Cybersecurity professionals can use many intrusion prevention systems to find an active vulnerability or detect a breach. Some of the most common forms of these systems include signature, anomaly, and policy-based mechanisms. Once a threat is detected, these systems should also alert security and management teams without causing unnecessary panic.
Triage
While a breach is ongoing, it can be overwhelming to plug all security holes at once. Similar to the experience of healthcare workers in hospital emergency rooms, triage is the method cybersecurity professionals use to identify which aspect of the breach creates the most risk for a company at any given time. After prioritizing threats, triage makes it possible to funnel efforts toward the most effective way to neutralize an attack.
Neutralization
Depending on the type of threat faced, there are several ways to neutralize a cybersecurity threat once it’s identified. For an effective neutralization effort, you must first terminate the threat’s access by resetting connections, raising firewalls, or closing access points. Then, you should do a complete evaluation of possible infected elements such as attachments, programs, and applications. Afterward, security teams should wipe all traces of infection on both hardware and software. For example, you can opt to change passwords, reformat computers, block suspected IP addresses, and so on.
Refined Processes and Network Monitoring
Once your business has neutralized an attack, it is essential to document the experience and refine the processes that allowed the attack to occur. Refining incident response procedures can take the form of updating company policies or conducting exercises to search for any remaining threats. At the heart of it, refining incident response procedures should keep similar breaches from happening again. If you want to achieve this goal, it’s important to maintain a continuous network monitoring system and instruct teams on the best ways to respond to threats.
Additional Considerations
When the source of a security breach is unidentified, there are several things that you can do to improve the success rate of your incident response. Discretion is a key factor here. You should try to avoid publicizing a breach until it has been corrected, and you should keep conversations private by talking in person or through encrypted messaging platforms.
When teams restrict access to suspected threats, they must also be careful not to delete valuable information used to identify a threat source. Unfortunately, during the triage phase, you may be able to identify critical issues but might miss other possible infections. For this reason, avoid using non-forensic tools that may overwrite necessary investigation information.
After a threat is contained, it is important to log reports and continue to monitor potential attacks. Moreover, you should notify key individuals in your organization about how breaches might affect their business activities. Lastly, a cross-functional approach within your organization can ensure all departments understand the importance of security implementation, including high-risk ones.
Prioritizing Your Incident Response Procedures
Unfortunately, there’s no way to avoid every cybersecurity incident. With time, hackers are getting better at developing tools to infiltrate businesses. For this reason, companies should always strive to keep their data safe by investing in updated security software and installing measures to monitor and protect that data.
In many ways, reacting to a cybersecurity breach requires prioritization. However, responding to attacks can be faster when the proper procedures are in place beforehand. By taking the time to plan your incident response procedures, you make it possible to react to threats quickly and effectively.
