How can you improve your incident response?

Get buy-in from senior management. The incident response plan should be endorsed by senior management to ensure that it is implemented and maintained. Test the plan regularly. The incident response plan should be tested regularly to ensure that it is effective. This can be done by conducting tabletop exercises or simulated incidents. Keep the plan up-to-date. The incident response plan should be kept up-to-date to reflect changes in the organization's environment and threats.

The incident response steps can be planned based on NIST framework functions as follows: 1. Identify Establish an Incident Response Team (IRT) Define Incident Categories and Severity Levels Identify and Document Critical Assets Develop an Incident Detection and Monitoring System Establish an Incident Notification and Escalation Process 2. Protect Develop an Incident Response Policy Create an Incident Response Plan (IRP) 3. Detect Incident Triage and Analysis 4. Respond Containment and Eradication Communication and Reporting Documentation and Logging 5. Recover Lessons Learned and Post-Incident Review Training and Awareness Testing and Simulation Continuous Improvement Legal and Regulatory Compliance

Having an IR plan is crucial because it's like having a fire drill – you're ready when a real fire cyber incident happens. For example, if a ransomware attack occurs, the plan outlines who does what, how to communicate, and what tools to use, preventing chaos and speeding up the response.

We all know that regular training and testing are vital because they're like practicing for a sports game. For instance, a well-trained team is prepared to handle cyber incidents, just as athletes practice skills. Testing, helps find weaknesses in your plan and ensures your team performs effectively when it matters most.

Documentation is crucial, like keeping a journal. For example, in a cyber incident, it records what your team did, the evidence, and what you learned. This journal documentation is vital for compliance, investigations, and making improvements.

Automation is vital to incident response, like having a personal assistant. For instance, it helps with alerts, speeding up tasks, and minimizing errors, much like an assistant streamlines your work. But remember, human factor judgment remains essential; automation supports, not replaces it.

It is always very helpful to subscribe to the latest open source or paid CTI feeds. There is a lot out there. Preparation is better than hindsight.

Example improvements by each step - 1. IR Team Update team info. Training 2. Incident Category, Severity Regularly validate with past data 3. IR Policy Periodic review. Legal, compliance input 4. IR Plan: Realistic testing. Easy access for the team 5. Notification, Escalation: Drill validation. Playbook 6. Critical Assets: Periodic review. Enhanced security measures 7. Detection, Monitoring: Continuous Improvement. Use AI 8. Triage, Analysis: Automation. Forensics 9 Containment, Eradication: Automation. Network segmentation 10. Communication, Reporting: Use templates 11. Documentation: Secure storage 12. Lessons Learned: Track lessons for prevention 13. Training, Awareness: Regular 14. Testing, Simulation: Diverse exercises

Incident response is vital because it's like having a fire brigade for cyberattacks. For example, by quickly identifying and containing a ransomware attack, it prevent it from spreading and minimize data loss.