In this article, I’ll outline the steps for cyber incident response planning, the key components of a cyber incident response plan, and best practices for website owners to implement their cyber incident response plans.
Cyber Incident Response Planning: The Basics
Before diving into the best practices for creating a cyber incident response plan, I’d like to discuss some basics. What is a cyber incident response plan? Why do website owners need one in place? Let’s find out.
What is a cyber incident response plan?
A cyber incident response plan is a set of documented procedures and processes an organization follows during a cybersecurity incident. The plan outlines the organization’s steps to detect, investigate, contain, and recover from a cyber attack or other security incidents.
Why have an incident response plan?
Cyber incident response planning is essential for organizations of all sizes and industries. Without a plan, organizations may struggle to respond effectively to an incident, which could further damage the organization’s reputation, financial losses, or legal liabilities.
Components of Cyber Incident Response Plans
Cyber incident response plans aim to ensure that an organization can respond quickly and effectively to minimize the damage caused by the incident. It includes key personnel, communication protocols, containment procedures, and recovery steps.
Here are some of the main components of a cyber incident response plan:
- Communication plan
The communication plan should outline how the incident response team will communicate with stakeholders during an incident. This plan should include contact information for key stakeholders, such as customers, partners, and regulators, as well as the messaging and channels that will be used to communicate with them.
- Incident classification and prioritization
Should outline how incidents will be classified based on their severity and impact on the website and its users. This plan should also define the prioritization of incident response efforts based on the severity of the incident.
- Incident response team roles and responsibilities
The incident response plan should clearly define the incident response team’s roles and responsibilities. This plan should outline the tasks and responsibilities of each team member, including who will take the lead in responding to an incident.
- Incident response procedures and workflows
This should outline the steps that the incident response team will take in response to an incident. This plan should include details on how incidents will be detected, contained, eradicated, and recovered.
- Incident documentation and reporting
The incident documentation and reporting plan should outline how incidents will be documented and reported. This plan should include details on what information will be collected during an incident, how it will be documented, and how it will be reported to stakeholders.
Best Practices for Cyber Incident Response Planning
Before discussing the steps in making your cyber incident response plan, let’s review some best practices.
- Include key stakeholders in the planning process
To ensure that the incident response plan is effective, it’s essential to include key stakeholders in the planning process. This could include IT, security experts, public relations, and customer support staff. By involving these stakeholders in the planning process, you can ensure that the plan covers all possible scenarios and that everyone understands their roles and responsibilities.
- Regularly review and update the incident response plan
Incident response planning is an ongoing process, and the incident response plan should be regularly reviewed and updated to ensure that it’s effective and up-to-date. You should review the plan at least once a year and after any significant changes to your website or business operations.
- Conduct regular training and drills for the incident response team
Regular training and drills for the incident response team are essential to ensure everyone understands their roles and responsibilities and knows how to respond to an incident effectively. You should conduct training and drills at least once a year and after any significant changes to your website or business operations.
- Follow established incident response frameworks, such as NIST or SANS
There are many established incident response frameworks that you can follow, such as NIST or SANS. These frameworks provide a comprehensive approach to incident response planning and can help you ensure that your plan covers all necessary components.
- Prioritize incident response based on impact to the website and its users
When responding to an incident, it’s important to prioritize response efforts based on the impact on the website and its users. For example, a data breach that exposes sensitive customer information should be prioritized over a minor website downtime.
How to Make a Cyber Incident Response Plan
Lastly, here are some of the most basic steps in making a cyber incident response plan.
- Define what constitutes an incident
The first step in incident response planning is to define what constitutes an incident for your website. This could include website downtime, cyber attacks, data breaches, or any other events that could cause harm to your website’s reputation or user trust. It’s essential to clearly understand what qualifies as an incident to ensure that the incident response plan covers all possible scenarios.
- Identify the team responsible for incident response
Once you’ve defined what constitutes an incident, you’ll need to identify the team responsible for incident response. This team should include members with the technical expertise to handle incidents, such as IT staff or security experts, and members who can manage communication with stakeholders, such as public relations or customer support staff.
- Develop an incident response plan
The incident response plan should outline the procedures and workflows the team will follow in response to an incident. This plan should include incident classification and prioritization, incident response team roles and responsibilities, incident response procedures and workflows, and incident documentation and reporting.
- Train the team on the incident response plan
Once the incident response plan is developed, the team should receive training to ensure that everyone understands their roles and responsibilities and knows how to respond to an incident effectively.
- Test and update the incident response plan regularly
Incident response planning is an ongoing process, and the incident response plan should be tested and updated regularly to ensure that it’s effective and up-to-date. Regular testing and updating of the plan will also help the incident response team stay prepared and ready to respond to any incidents that may occur.
Summary and Key Takeaways
Incident response planning is essential for website owners to respond quickly and effectively to incidents and minimize the damage caused. Following the steps outlined in this article and implementing an incident response plan, website owners can ensure they’re prepared to handle any possible incidents.
Remember to prioritize incident response based on the impact on the website and its users and follow established incident response frameworks for a comprehensive approach to incident response planning. As usual, if you have any questions at all, please get in touch with me! I’d love to help you.
Key Takeaways:
- A cyber incident response plan is a set of documented procedures and processes an organization follows during a cybersecurity incident
- Cyber incident response planning is essential for organizations of all sizes and industries
- The basics, key components, best practices, and the steps involved in creating a cyber incident response plan
