How do you benchmark and compare incident impact across different scenarios and domains?

1 Incident impact definition

Incident impact is the extent of the negative consequences of an incident on the organization, its customers, its stakeholders, and its reputation. It is important to measure incident impact in order to determine the urgency, resources, and strategy of the incident response as well as potential legal, regulatory, and financial implications. Incident impact can be measured in terms of availability (e.g. downtime or degraded service), confidentiality (e.g. sensitive or personal data compromised or exposed), integrity (e.g. data or functionality corrupted or altered), scope (e.g. number of systems, users, or customers affected), and cost (e.g. lost revenue, recovery expenses, or fines).

2 Incident impact measurement

Quantifying and comparing incident impact across different dimensions and scenarios can be difficult, but there are some general steps and principles that can help. First, define metrics and indicators that are relevant to your organization and domain, such as mean time to detect, customer satisfaction, or breach notification rate. Then collect and analyze data from various sources using tools and methods such as dashboards or charts. Benchmark the data against your own historical data or industry standards to identify trends, patterns, or anomalies. Finally, communicate the results and insights to stakeholders in clear language, highlighting the key findings and recommendations.

4 Incident impact improvement

The main goal of incident impact measurement is to learn from incidents and use the data and insights to prevent, mitigate, or recover from future incidents. To do this, we must identify and prioritize the root causes and contributing factors of the incidents, and evaluate and optimize the effectiveness and efficiency of the incident response processes, procedures, and teams. Additionally, we should enhance and update the incident response plans, policies, and tools, as well as regularly test and train them. Lastly, we should monitor and review the incident impact measurement results and feedback, adjusting and refining them as needed.

5 Incident impact challenges

Measuring incident impact is not a simple task and there are several challenges and limitations that need to be addressed. Poor data quality and availability, data interpretation and comparison issues, and communication and reporting difficulties can all hinder the process. To overcome these obstacles, reliable and valid data sources must be used, appropriate and consistent data analysis and visualization methods should be employed, and simple yet effective communication and reporting techniques should be implemented.