No business is immune to cyber threats. A strong defence that mitigates your most dangerous risk factors can help reduce your chances of experiencing an attack, but never to zero. The frightening truth is that regardless of what you do, you could fall victim to a cyber incident. You must ask yourself one simple question: If your business was breached tomorrow, would it survive?
For many, the answer is no – and this is because they devoted all their energy towards preventing attacks, without considering how they will respond if those defences are bypassed. In the modern workplace, it isn’t enough to simply increase your IT security. Incident response planning is essential to ensure that, if you do experience an incident, your business can bounce back.
Cyber Incident Response Plans Explained
A cyber security incident response plan is your formalised approach towards handling ongoing threats. The point of this document is to give you and your team a clear strategy to follow if a breach occurs, mitigating damage and restoring normal business operations quickly. It will typically involve a mixture of technical, operational, and collaborative steps, tackling your response from all angles.
A solid cyber incident response plan:
- Prevents minor attacks from becoming major ones
- Reduces downtime
- Protects sensitive data
- Improves your overall security posture
The Consequences of Failing to Plan Ahead
Without a comprehensive computer incident response plan, you risk confusion and delays – which could spell disaster. During an attack, critical systems are shut down. The more disorganised your response is, the longer they will stay that way. When downtime can cost thousands of dollars per minute, an extra hour is more significant than it might first appear.
This is only the beginning. In an age where consumers prize data security above all else, a breach is increasingly unacceptable. Lost trust means that beyond the incident itself, the financial consequences could follow your business years into the future. However, all of this can be mitigated with a proactive approach.
The Benefits of Incident Response Planning
The benefits of incident response planning are immense:
- Less Downtime: A well-planned response will bring crucial systems back online as fast as possible, reducing downtime and the costs incurred.
- Maintained Trust: The loss of trust caused by a breach can be mitigated with a timely response. If customers see you taking their safety seriously, they’re more likely to forgive you.
- Improved Compliance: Many modern regulations require you to implement strong data protection measures. An incident response plan demonstrates your commitment to security and reduces your risk of being penalised. After the Australian Privacy Act tightened last year, this has become especially relevant.
- Better Profitability: All of the above minimise the short and long term costs associated with a cyber incident, improving your overall profitability.
- Organisational Confidence: Knowing that there is a plan in place for the worst-case scenario helps your staff feel secure and increases morale.
Computer Security Incident Response Plan Checklist
When developing a computer incident response plan, consider these key elements:
Assemble Your Team
Identify key players who will take part in your response procedures. Clearly define their roles and responsibilities, and communicate this information to them. Your plan will be useless if no one knows what they’re supposed to do.
Define a Cyber Incident
Perform a risk assessment. Identify your most critical risk factors, everything that could go wrong, and what the consequences would be. Then use this information to clarify which events will trigger your cyber security incident response plan.
Establish Reporting Channels
Reporting is an important part of incident recovery, especially since it is often mandated under the Notifiable Data Breaches Scheme. Ensure that employees understand when they should report suspicious activity, and how to do it effectively.
Document Response Procedures
Create step-by-step instructions for containment, eradication, and recovery. If you’re not sure what to include, use a framework such as the NIST incident response plan. Remember to customise any pre-built frameworks so they reflect your business’ unique structure.
Preserve Evidence
Decide how to collect logs, emails, and other forensic data. Plan response documentation procedures. You may need this information later for legal reasons or your post-mortem.
Plan Communication
Develop internal and external communication strategies. This keeps the response plan on track, and allows you to control the message received by the public.
Test Often
Just as you need fire drills, you should do the same with your IT security incident response plan. Your staff may understand the process in theory, only for everything to fall apart during an actual attack. Or there could be a serious flaw in the plan that you have yet to notice. Testing will help you identify and close these gaps in a safe environment.
Incident Response Plan Example: Your Hard Work in Action
To drive home how it benefits your business, here is a brief incident response plan example:
One day, your staff member accidentally clicks a phishing link. It immediately downloads malware onto their computer. Because you planned ahead for this scenario, they know to stop using the computer, disconnect from the network, and report the incident to your IT team. This fast action prevents the malware from spreading across all of your computers. Instead of the entire business shutting down, only one device is removed from play. While the rest of your staff work, your team quickly finds and resolves the issue.
Compare this to the alternative. Imagine that your staff member doesn’t know to report the attack or disconnect the device. By the time you realise something is wrong, 70% of your office computers are infected and a large amount of customer data has been accessed. You now have to stop all operations and put out a public notice warning affected individuals. Your story appears all over the internet the next day, and customers start talking about a boycott. Or worse still: you try to hide the incident, only to have the government find out. They want to know why you didn’t report it, and are considering a fine.
Which of these scenarios you experience entirely depends on your ability to plan ahead. This short incident response plan example shows how basic preparation can transform a potentially chaotic situation into a minor bump in the road.
Incident Response Plan Templates: Are They Worthwhile?
You may not be overly familiar with the cyber incident response planning process, and there’s nothing wrong with that. This facet of security is often overlooked, and business leaders are poorly educated as a result. In this scenario, you may want to consider using an incident response plan template. As mentioned before, you might use the NIST incident response plan – or another good option is the ACSC incident response plan, designed by the Australian Signals Directorate. These can provide a solid starting point to guide you.
However, it’s essential to remember that every business is different, and these plans are designed to be quite generic. Instead of blindly trusting the template, make sure you inspect it for flaws and tailor it accordingly. Treat it as a guideline, not a rule. If certain parts don’t seem to be applicable, replace them.
Discover how following the Essential 8 protects your business
An Attack Can Happen at Any Time - Prepare Now to Avoid Problems Later
Cyber-attacks don’t typically announce their presence. They arrive uninvited and often unnoticed, causing untold damage before you even have the opportunity to stop them. Even the strongest security measures cannot entirely erase this risk. Your only defence in this situation is a clear, comprehensive cyber incident response plan. By preparing now for tomorrow’s threats, you can ensure a swift recovery with as little disruption as possible.
Do you need more information? Austin Technology’s security experts know exactly what it takes to protect your business. Contact us today to start a conversation about how you can improve your defences.
