A recent article on Digital Guardian assembled a panel of 33 cyber security experts to discuss a growing concern for businesses of all sizes; the need for reliable cyber security incident response planning.
The rise in cybercrime incidents in recent years has highlighted the need for smart and careful planning to avoid lasting damage and restore operations quickly after a cyber attack. Pulling together an effective plan requires taking numerous moving parts into consideration, and working out a strategy that will allow for an incident response plan to be rolled out as soon as a problem is identified. And just as no two businesses are exactly alike, no two incident response plans should be exactly alike, either.
As part of this expert panel, Alltek’ Taher Hamid was asked to give his thoughts on the question “What are the most important considerations when developing a cybersecurity incident response plan?”
As a technology consultant, Taher has had plenty of firsthand experience helping clients find their answer to this question. His key considerations for your business’ incident response plan are:
- Clearly, define the roles in the case of a breach
- Create and maintain relationships with external experts
- Develop categories or levels of compromise
- Run simulations with your staff and trusted third parties
- Create a culture of safety
- Create muscle memory
Using these considerations as a framework will help your business build a solid incident response plan. Having an executive in charge of creating, refining, training, and communicating with the rest of the team what the plan entails, how it should be executed, and what role team members are expected to play in putting the plan into action is critical. And as important as it is to have someone leading the charge, it’s just as important to make sure your employees have been trained to identify potential issues.
Not all incidents will play out in the same way, which means your response plan needs to be adapted to each scenario, and your team needs to be able to carry out the necessary version of your program quickly and efficiently.
You can read Taher’s full thoughts on the subject here, as well as the thoughts of the entire 33 member panel.
Want to learn more about how cyber security incident response planning can protect your business? Contact us at {email} or 863-709-0709. We’re the IT professionals businesses in {city} trust.