In the first four months of 2024, there were 9,478 publicly disclosed cybersecurity incidents globally [1]. That’s more than 100 every day. During these incidents, more than 35 billion data records were compromised. These eye-watering numbers tell you one thing: even if you haven’t experienced a cyber incident before in your organization, you’re likely to face a threat sooner or later. Dealing with cyber risk is just part of running an organization in today’s world.
However, while there’s no surefire way to prevent cyber attackers from threatening your organization (although you can get pretty close), the key to success is how you deal with cyber incidents when they occur. With thorough planning, careful execution of your plans, and the best technology, you can create robust incident response processes, minimize damage, and come back stronger.
In this article, we’ll share nine tips you can follow in your organization to enhance your incident response capabilities. Let’s get started.
1. Understand incidents that can occur
Security threats come in many forms. Here are just five widespread types of cyberattacks you could face in your organization:
- Malware (and ransomware)
- Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS)
- Phishing
- Code injection
- Insider threats
The first step to enhancing your incident response capabilities is to understand what is out there, and the ways different threats can impact your organization. Consider which kinds of cyber threats would cause the most damage. For example, if a DDoS attack brought down your network, how much productivity and revenue would you lose every day it was down? How would that number compare to the impact of a malware attack that compromises your data?
Going through this process will help you prioritize and tailor your incident response plan accordingly. However, it’s important to remember that the threat landscape is constantly evolving, so you should regularly evaluate how you categorize threats.
2. Evaluate your existing response processes
What do you do now if you experience a cyber incident? How do you respond if, for example, your threat detection tools identify a cyber attacker trying to infiltrate your network?
Before you work on improving your incident response effectiveness, create a baseline. Consider what works well when you experience a cyber incident, but also where there may be gaps and weaknesses.
Ideally, you’ll have tools in place to measure metrics, such as:
- Number of alerts created
- Time to detect, respond, and recover
- Cost per incident
These metrics bring your incident response plan to life as they demonstrate the impact of cyber incidents on your organization. Then, once your enhancements are up and running, they’ll show how your work has delivered tangible benefits.
3. Train employees on incident response
When it comes to cybersecurity, an organization is only as strong as its weakest link. 2024 research by Verizon[2] found that 68% of data breaches involved a human victim in some way, such as a person opening an email attachment infected with malware or submitting to a social engineering attack.
“2024 research by Verizon[2] found that 68% of data breaches involved a human victim in some way.”
You’ll always be more effective at preventing cyber incidents in your organization – and neutralizing them if they happen – if your employees are well-trained to recognize, report, and respond promptly. Create a culture of security awareness and readiness throughout your organization.
Ensure they know about the threats that are out there (such as in email attachments) and how to stay vigilant. Have policies in place around passwords, authorized devices, data sharing, and other network security matters – and make sure your employees know about them. Finally, show them the protocol to follow if they suspect an incident is taking place.
4. Create an incident response plan
Your organization’s incident response plan should be the exhaustive protocol for you and your teams to follow in the event of a cyber incident of any kind. Your incident response plan must be:
- Clear – Ambiguities only cause confusion, so spell everything out.
- Comprehensive – Your plan should cover all your bases. Don’t leave anything to chance. This includes having extra people on your contact list should someone be on vacation or otherwise unavailable.
- Quantifiable – Use metrics to dictate next steps rather than gut instinct. Put target timelines on each step, so you can know whether they’ve been achieved or not.
What should be in your incident response plan? It should set out every step for dealing with an incident from threat detection to recovery. It should include (but not limited to):
- Key contacts – The people who will lead the response, such as senior management, IT, and compliance leaders.
- Communication protocols – How will these people talk to each other? Phone calls or alerts are great for one-on-one, but conference calls (including video) may be more appropriate for group action.
- Escalation procedure – While your IT security team may be able to handle minor impact incidents on their own, what needs to happen before you wake up the CIO during the night?
- Timelines – Set a clear timeline for each stage of response and remediation.
- Compliance – When do you need to contact your industry regulator? What data do you need to provide?
CISA has basic recommendations for incident response plans here.
5. Establish communication channels
When you’re dealing with cyber threats, good communication is vital. You need to be able to coordinate everyone’s actions in line with your incident response plan. You also need to be constantly sharing information to facilitate a swift and effective response process.
A secure instant messaging platform is a great way to keep everyone on the same page. It’s faster and more responsive than email or conference calls. Plus, it records everyone’s inputs in one place, which makes it easier to assess the response after the incident is over.
However, remember that it may not be just your team members that you must communicate with. If your incident is severe and your network goes down, for example, you need to communicate with your customers about what’s happening and when it will be remedied. That could be via social media or a status page.
6. Test and refine the plan regularly
You could compile the most comprehensive incident response plan of all time, but you never really know if it’s up to the job until you have to use it. However, rather than wait for a cyber attack to occur before you find out, you can test it away from the heat of battle.
Conduct regular drills and tabletop exercises to test your incident response plan’s effectiveness. For example, you could run a scenario where an attacker is in your system and is trying to start a DDoS attack. What do you do next?
You could also run red team vs blue team exercises, where your red team looks for vulnerabilities in your network security that will allow them to break in, while your blue team defends and responds to these attacks.
Use the insights gained from these exercises to refine and improve your incident response plan. Address those vulnerabilities, plug those gaps, and improve your plan until it’s as robust as possible.
7. Use specialist incident response tools
Tech can help you streamline your incident response procedures through several methods:
- Automation – Take tasks out of human hands to ensure 24/7 coverage and reduce errors.
- Visibility – Get the big picture of the threats targeting your organization, your attack surface and security posture, and the effectiveness of your incident response.
- Speed – Software speeds up threat detection, allowing you to respond faster. You can even begin your response before an attacker has breached your defenses.
CounterCraft’s threat intelligence, powered by deception, detects potential cyber threats early. But it also creates a digital twin of your network running parallel to your live network. Attracting attackers with a breadcrumb trail, it lures in cyber attackers who believe they’re working in your actual network. But in reality, they’re only in the deception environment, so you’re completely safe.
When attackers are in the digital twin network, CounterCraft The Platform monitors their activities, allowing you to anticipate their next moves and coordinate your response accordingly. The data generated during this time is specific, actionable threat intelligence delivered before the attackers can breach your live network.
Security teams are typically overburdened with false positives that waste their time and create alert fatigue. But an alert generated by threat intelligence powered by deception is timely, relevant and evidence of real activity. It’s the one alert you should never ignore.
8. Implement threat intelligence solutions
Threat intelligence software keeps you informed about emerging threats and vulnerabilities to enhance your incident response capabilities. It works by showing you:
- Threat analysis – The tools, techniques, and procedures attackers are using now to breach organizations like yours.
- Indicators of compromise – Anomalies in your organization’s system that could signify an incident.
- Potential attackers’ activity – Deception technology delivers real-time insight into attackers’ malicious activities targeting your organization.
Don’t wait for cyber attackers to come to you before you start running your incident response procedures. Instead, be proactive. Make identifying and mitigating potential threats before they escalate into full-blown incidents part of your response.
9. Monitor and analyze incident data
Following the tips laid out above will help you:
- Understand that whatever sector you’re in, cyber attackers are targeting you.
- Create a robust incident response plan that boosts resilience across your organization.
- Detect cyber threats early, so you have time to respond before minor issues become major.
The key to improving incident response in your organization is developing threat intelligence. It shifts your approach to cybersecurity from proactive to reactive, based on data and factual evidence.
To find out more, visit our solutions page or request a demo to see how our technology works for you.
Sources:
[1] https://www.itgovernance.co.uk/blog/global-data-breaches-and-cyber-attacks-in-2024
[2] https://www.verizon.com/business/resources/reports/dbir/