Importance of a Cybersecurity Incident Response Plan

Businesses have now resigned themselves to one key reality: cybersecurity incidents are inevitable. But they can be prevented if the right tools and plans are in place. While cybersecurity incidents have become a norm in this day and age, with threat actors unleashing malicious attacks on a slew of enterprises, a whopping 1,767 data breaches were reported in the first six months of 2021 alone.

Cybercriminals have outwitted cybersecurity experts; they are now adept at deploying cutting-edge technology and employing ingenious methods to steal valuable information from businesses. Disturbingly, despite organizations’ efforts to put effective security measures in place, data breaches still continue without any letup. When organizations that are struggling to foil attacks despite spending millions on cybersecurity, one can imagine the state of insecurity and vulnerability of businesses that take the cyber threat lightly.

What is a Cybersecurity Incident Response Plan?

It is a document that gives IT and cybersecurity experts directions on how to respond to a grave security event, such as a data break, data leak, ransomware attack, or loss of valuable information. There are four phases to most effective incident response plans: Preparation; detection and assessment; containment, eradication, and recovery; and post-incident activity.

Why It’s Important for Every Company to Have a Cybersecurity Incident Response Plan

Ransomware attacks have become a dime a dozen as organizations of all types have been hit by them.  Whether you’re a small company or one as large as Apple or Amazon, you are likely to experience a cybersecurity event sooner or later.

Not having a comprehensive cybersecurity incident response plan in place will affect you in many ways in case you get hit with a breach. And this will prompt your security team and management team to scramble to realize and respond. But in the absence of a solid plan, they will end up making costly mistakes.

Based on the type of information exposed and the scale of the hole, you might be legally required to take a few steps and inform not only those impacted but also government agencies or other organizations. Not having a cybersecurity plan in place will land you in serious trouble and expose you to additional fines or legal action.

Second, if your company experiences an important breach, you will have to undergo an external probe or audit.

Some industry-specific security frameworks also require businesses to have a cybersecurity incident response in place. So, regardless of the volume and type of your business and its growth, it’s important to have a cyber incident response plan in place to keep your business intact and to help your business successfully recover from a security event.

New Cybersecurity Risks Triggered by COVID-19

Now that Covid-19 has forced many businesses into a remote-only operating model, it’s important for your IT security staff to stay vigilant and appreciate the new risks facing your company. Malicious threat actors could cash in on public worry surrounding the pandemic by carrying out phishing attacks and propaganda campaigns.

Ransomware attacks often use a blend of email and phony websites to bait victims into divulging sensitive information. Disinformation drives can stoke discord, manipulate the public discourse, influence policy development, or upset markets. 

Your IT security team should take it as an opportunity to remind employees to stay alert, reiterate key notions covered in your security training, ensure that all supervisory systems are operating properly and be ready to respond to any security events quickly.

In a Nutshell 

Data breaches are a terrifying and expensive reality, but if you have a foolproof cybersecurity incident response plan before you fall victim to a security incident, you’ll be better prepared to deal with the situation and more likely to come out of it safe and sound.

About AMSAT

AMSAT’s state-of-the-art infrastructure and effective systems help organizations defend against present and future threats, which can be tailored to specific needs of our clients. The AMSAT team includes some of the leading security practitioners in a broad set of cybersecurity capabilities. This covers areas of application and network security, analysis, pro-active, legal, reactive and forensic services. AMSAT also provides the largest and most efficient Security Operations Center in Pakistan where cybersecurity experts are monitoring events on 24/7, helping organizations implement robust, consistent and stable cybersecurity practices. Our solutions are ideally geared for the medium to large enterprises, critical infrastructure and law enforcement and sensitive organizations.  AMSAT also provides access to the best-of-breed cybersecurity solutions covering areas such as Endpoints, Data Flow Analysis and Anomaly Detection, Intrusion Detection and Prevention, Application and Network Firewalls, Wireless Security, Cloud Security, Penetration Testing, and SWAT/Tiger and Forensic Teams.