How do you write an incident response plan?

1 Assess your risks

The first step in writing an incident response plan is to identify and prioritize the potential threats and vulnerabilities that could affect your organization. You can use a risk assessment framework, such as NIST SP 800-30, to evaluate the likelihood and impact of different scenarios, such as data breaches, ransomware, denial-of-service, or insider attacks. You should also consider the legal, regulatory, and contractual obligations that your organization has to comply with in case of an incident.

2 Define your objectives

The second step in writing an incident response plan is to define your goals and outcomes for each phase of the incident response process. Aligning your objectives with your organization's mission, vision, and values, as well as security policies and standards, is essential. These objectives should include detecting and containing incidents quickly, minimizing damage and disruption to operations and customers, preserving evidence and maintaining the chain of custody, communicating clearly and transparently with stakeholders, and learning from the incident to improve security posture.

4 Establish your procedures

The fourth step in writing an incident response plan is to establish your procedures and guidelines for each phase of the incident response process. Documenting the steps, tasks, and actions that your team needs to follow, as well as the criteria, metrics, and indicators used to measure performance is essential. Templates, checklists, and forms should be included to record and report activities. For example, you should identify and classify incidents based on severity, scope, and type; isolate and quarantine affected systems, networks, and data; collect and analyze evidence and artifacts; eradicate and remediate the root cause and impact; restore and resume normal operations and services.

5 Choose your tools

The fifth step in writing an incident response plan is to choose the tools and resources that support your incident response process. Your selection should match your needs, capabilities, and budget, as well as integrate well with your existing infrastructure and systems. Testing and updating the tools on a regular basis is essential to guarantee their functionality and reliability. Examples of such tools include security information and event management (SIEM) tools to monitor and alert on suspicious activities and events, forensic tools to capture and analyze digital evidence and artifacts, backup and recovery tools to restore and recover data and systems, as well as communication and collaboration tools to coordinate and share information with your team and stakeholders.

6 Review and update your plan

The sixth and final step in writing an incident response plan is to review and update your plan periodically to ensure its relevance and effectiveness. You should conduct regular audits, tests, and drills to evaluate your plan and identify any gaps, weaknesses, or opportunities for improvement. You should also incorporate the feedback, lessons learned, and best practices from your previous incidents and from the industry standards and trends. You should communicate and train your team and stakeholders on any changes or updates to your plan.