What is Incident Response? A Comprehensive Guide

What is Incident Response?

Incident response refers to the process of detecting, analyzing, and resolving cybersecurity incidents. The goal of incident response is to minimize the damage caused by an incident and restore normal operations as quickly as possible. Incident response can take many forms, but it typically involves four main phases: preparation, identification, containment, and recovery.

Preparation

Preparation is the first step in incident response. This phase involves planning and preparing for the various types of incidents that may occur. It includes defining roles and responsibilities, developing incident response plans, and training personnel to respond to incidents. Organizations should also have a well-defined incident response policy that outlines the process for reporting and responding to incidents.

Identification

The identification phase involves detecting an incident. This can be done through a variety of methods, such as monitoring logs, reviewing system alerts, or receiving reports from users. Once an incident has been detected, the incident response team should assess the impact of the incident and determine the appropriate response.

Containment

The containment phase involves isolating the affected systems to prevent the spread of the incident. This can be done by disconnecting systems from the network, shutting down specific services, or using firewalls to block access to affected systems. The goal of containment is to minimize the impact of the incident and prevent it from spreading to other systems.

Recovery

The recovery phase involves restoring normal operations. This can involve repairing or replacing affected systems, restoring data, and verifying the effectiveness of the incident response plan. The recovery phase should also involve reviewing the incident to identify any weaknesses in the incident response process that can be addressed to prevent future incidents.

Incident Response Plan Steps

There are several best practices that organizations should follow when developing and implementing incident response plans. These include:

1. Preparation

The preparation phase consists of ensuring that employees are well trained, specifying the members of the CIRT/CSIRT, and ensuring that the necessary technology has been implemented. Data backups should be taken, and mock data breaches should be conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the plan and the CIRT/CSIRT team.

2. Identification and Scoping

It is perhaps the most important phase of the IRP. Essentially you will need a fast and effective means of detecting security incidents that require the response of the CIRT/CSIRT. It is therefore essential that you have implemented the right tools and technologies. For example, you will need to use Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) and Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) solutions in order to monitor endpoints and network traffic for indications of suspicious behavior.

3. Data Access Security

You will also need to know exactly who has access to your critical data or assets, where those data or assets are located, and when they are being accessed. Solutions such as the file server auditing component of Lepide Data Security Platform, provide you with real-time details of who has access to which data, who has made what changes, and at what time.

4. Containment/Intelligence Gathering

This phase involves containing the threat to prevent further damage and gathering as much information about the incident as possible. Again, Lepide Data Security Platform enables IT teams, to review a history of the events that took place before the incident and can generate over 300 pre-set reports, which can be used for potential legal proceedings, and satisfy compliance requirements. You can also make use of threshold alerting technology and automated script execution to increase the intelligence of your detection and response strategies.

5. Eradication/Remediation

Naturally, once the threat has been detected, contained, and analyzed, enterprises will need to remove the actual threat from the network and restore the system to a functional, uninfected state. Any compromised credentials will need to be reviewed and reset, and this must be well-communicated to those involved.

6. Recovery

The recovery phase is where all systems are put back into production and monitored to ensure that they are functional and showing no signs that they have been compromised.

7. Follow-Up/Review

The CIRT/CSIRT should document any issues that are presented during the previous phases of the IRP and make suggestions about how these issues could be resolved during future incidents. This documentation should be included in the training material used in the preparation phase.

How Lepide Helps Improve Incident Response

Incident response is a critical component of any organization’s cybersecurity strategy. It involves a systematic and organized approach to detecting, containing, and mitigating cyber threats. By following best practices and having a well-defined incident response plan, organizations can minimize the impact of security breaches and minimize damage to their reputation, finances, and operations.

Lepide Data Security Platform proactively monitors your key IT infrastructure and alerts you when anomalous user behavior is detected so that your team can respond in a timely manner. Using the solution, you will be able to discover and classify your sensitive data, find out who has access to it, determine what changes are being made to it, and ensure that the surrounding environment is secure.

Lepide will help you to investigate and respond to security incidents quicker through proactive monitoring, real-time alerting, and detailed reporting. You can even integrate your existing SIEM solution with the data security platform for complete data security intelligence.

Come and take a look at Lepide in action with a personalized demo and see how it can help you improve your incident response. Alternatively, if you’d like a more hands-on approach, start your free trial today.