Incident Response Plan
Every second counts during a security breach. When a cyber incident hits, does your team know exactly what to do?
Ransomware attacks, email malware and financial fraud have grown significantly during the pandemic. Many companies had to go through business downtime and financial losses due to the impacts of cyber attacks.
Equip your business and make sure that your teams know how to contain and handle a future cyber incident.
Table of Contents
What Are Incident Response Plans?
An incident response plan is a set of procedures that your organization will follow in the event of a security breach. IRPs should support the organization and be well embedded into organizational policies to ensure that there is a wide reach. Organizations that do not integrate IRPs into policies increase their risk of staff being unable to execute on the documented procedures. Having a well-executed incident response plan provides internal and external stakeholders assurance that your organization is prepared to reduce recovery time objectives (RTOs) thus minimizing the impact of breaches. Organizations should follow well established, well-reputed frameworks when constructing IRPs. Most incident response plans have 6 high-level steps to follow: Prepare, Identify, Contain, Eradicate, Recover and Conduct Lessons Learned
What Are Disaster Recovery Plans?
Disaster recovery plans address greater questions about people, processes and technology associated with organizations. People and human safety are always the top priority DRPs. DRPs focus on the enterprise by paying close attention to immediate response and minimizing overall damage. There are additional details and procedures tied to incident response plans. Most organizations should include the following considerations when building the procedures tied to their plan: Personnel, Inventory, Communications, Planning, Lessons Learned
Common Cybersecurity Incidents Businesses Face
- Ransomware & Malware Attacks – Hackers encrypt business data, demanding ransom payments.
- Phishing & Social Engineering Attacks – Employees are tricked into providing access credentials.
- Data Breaches & Insider Threats – Sensitive information is stolen due to weak security controls.
- DDoS (Distributed Denial-of-Service) Attacks – Hackers overwhelm systems, causing service outages.
- Zero-Day Exploits – Attackers take advantage of unpatched vulnerabilities before fixes are available.
Does My Company Need An Incident Response Plan?
An incident response plan includes the processes, procedures, stakeholders and documentation related to how your organization handles, reacts and recovers from cyber incidents.
Many, if not all compliance and regulatory frameworks require organizations to have a robust and actionable cyber incident response plan. Additionally, there are requirements at a minimum to have specific breach notification requirements for certain privacy standards.
Security Compliance Frameworks That Require Or Recommend An Incident Response Plan
- ISO 27001 - Requires a formal incident management process (Clauses A.5.25 & A.5.26) to respond to information security events and improve from past incidents.
- SOC 2 - Under Trust Services Criteria (CC7.2), organizations must detect and respond to security incidents with documented procedures and responsibilities.
- NIST CSF - NIST 800-53 Mandates a complete incident response capability, including planning, detection, analysis, containment, recovery, and post-incident improvements.
- HIPAA - The Security Rule requires covered entities and business associates to implement policies for responding to security incidents involving ePHI.
- GDPR - Articles 33 and 34 require the ability to detect and report personal data breaches within 72 hours, making a response plan essential for compliance.
- PCI DSS - Requirement 12.10 mandates an incident response plan that is tested and updated regularly to ensure quick action in case of a data breach.
- CMMC - Requires documented and tested incident response plans, with increasing rigor at higher certification levels (starting from Level 2+).
How Can An Incident Response Plan Benefit Your Business?
Having an incident response plan means that the right people in your company, who have the right skillsets and experience, know what procedures to take to contain and remediate a cyber security incident.
When an incident is handled well, you can:
- Minimize business downtime
- Safeguard your organization from a potential loss of revenue
- Earn client trust and protect company reputation
- Keep you compliant with the regulatory and compliance frameworks for your company now and in the future
Is Your Company Prepared For A Cyber Attack?
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Additional Services
Incident Response Retainer
An incident Response Retainer (IRR) is a service that allows you to get additional help with cyber incidents.
Data forensics, 24-hour response number, incident response specialists and other service providers will be available to your team.
Tabletop exercise
A tabletop exercise is a role-play exercise that is intended to simulate a real-life cyber security incident experience.
The purpose of this exercise is to prepare your technical and executive team to effectively handle significant security incidents, prior to an actual incident occurring in real life. Tabletop exercises can be run regularly to simulate various scenarios, mature the experience of the team over time.
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Cyber incidents happen daily, and without a clear response strategy, organizations face increased downtime, financial loss, and regulatory penalties.
An IRP ensures a rapid, coordinated response to cyber threats, preventing escalation and helping businesses recover faster.
At least once per year through tabletop exercises, penetration testing, or real-world incident simulations.
After major system updates or security incidents to improve effectiveness.
SaaS, fintech, healthcare, retail, and government sectors with regulatory and cybersecurity risks.
Any business handling sensitive data (financial transactions, customer data, proprietary information).