When you find yourself face-to-face with a cyberattack, you won’t want to be caught off guard. After all, a 2020 study revealed that the average cost of a cyberattack was over $133,000. Most businesses can’t afford to throw that kind of money down the drain. That’s why it’s essential to understand and implement a robust incident response management program into the life of your business.
If you make incident response management a priority, you’ll minimize the amount of damage hackers and other cybercriminals can do to your business, you’ll prevent unnecessary losses, and you’ll ensure that you’re always compliant with the necessary regulations.
So, what are the major components of incident response management? And how can you make sure that you’re making the most of your program? Read on to find out.
Essential Elements of Your Incident Response Management Program
If you’re going to effectively mitigate cyberattacks and breaches, you’ll need several key components.
Your Incident Response Team
First, you’ll need an incident response team that includes experts in IT, management, communication, and applicable laws and regulations. It’s a good idea to begin with a team leader who can coordinate the entire team, keeping them focused on minimizing damage and preparing for recovery. Every effective incident management program needs a threat researcher who can discover and analyze weaknesses before they’re exploited. You’ll also need at least one qualified IT and security engineer. They’ll be able to work on ways to eliminate those vulnerabilities as well as develop ways to recover after an attack. In addition, you should look for team members who understand legal and risk management, HR, and PR and corporate communications. If that seems like a lot, remember the cost of failing to comprehensively protect your business’s IT systems.
Your Incident Response Plan
In addition to a skilled, knowledgeable team, your incident response management program should also have a well-thought-out plan. This plan should offer clear direction regarding the role of each member of the team. It should also clarify the documentation and communication that’s needed throughout the process.
Your Incident Response Tools
Finally, your incident response management plan should take advantage of the latest security tools. This can include everything from security information and event management (SIEM) to network traffic analysis (NTA). These tools will equip your team to execute your plan, so you’ll be ready to respond the moment a cyber incident occurs.
Making the Most of Your Incident Response Management Program
Protecting yourself with a robust incident response plan isn’t something that you do once and leave unchanged. It’s a continual effort that involves observation, analysis, and action. Here’s what it looks like once it’s in place.
Identify Risks
Hackers and cyber criminals are constantly changing their approaches. That’s why it’s essential for your team to keep their eyes always open to new and evolving risks. When a problem arises, you’ll want protocols in place that will detect when something goes awry, even if it’s a minor deviation from the norm.
Containing the Problem
Once a threat has been identified, you’ll want to immediately contain it in order to minimize the danger it’s causing. This means that you’ve got to have a way to isolate any affected systems, databases, or networks. Cyber-attacks can escalate quickly. So, you’ve got to move fast to keep them from spreading.
Eliminating the Threat
Once you’ve discovered a threat and contained its footprint, you’ll want to analyze the root of the problem. Only once you’ve found the source of the problem can you eliminate it from your system.
Recovering After the Fact
Once you’ve eliminated a threat, you won’t want to immediately throw the doors back open. That could leave you vulnerable if you haven’t actually gotten to the root of the problem. Instead, you should move back to normal slowly, testing your systems as you go to ensure the threat has truly been eliminated.
Evaluation
After any cyber threat, it’s important for your team to evaluate the event. What were your system’s vulnerabilities? How were they exploited? How can your digital defenses be strengthened so you don’t face the same problem in the future? This is the time to build on your incident response management program so it’s even more effective next time.
