Develop and Implement a Security Incident Management Program
Create a scalable incident response program without breaking the bank.
View Storyboard
Contributors
- Dave Millier, CEO, Uzado Inc.
- Mahmood Sher-Jan, EVP & General Manager, RADAR Product Unit
- Matt Anthony, VP, Security Remediation Services,The Herjavec Group
- Jason Bareiszis, CSIRT Manager & Principal Security Architect, Tetra Tech
- Malcolm Brown, Industry Analyst Relations, Trend Micro
- Mark Bernard, CISO, Government, Financial Services, Manufacturing, Pharma, Legal
- Wayne Chung, Senior Consultant, Information Assurance, Eosensa
- Ali Shahidi, Chief Cyber Security & Computer Forensics, InfoTransec Inc.
- Ian Parker, Head of Corporate System Information Security, Risk, and Compliance, Fujitsu Services
- Joey LaCour, CISO, Colonial Savings, F.A.
- Ron Kirkland, Manager ICT Security, Crawford and Company
- Vincent di Giambattista, Director IT Security and Compliance, Alliance Healthcare Ltd.
- Five anonymous contributors
- Tracked incidents are often classified into ready-made responses that are not necessarily applicable to the organization. With so many classifications, tracking becomes inefficient and indigestible, allowing major incidents to fall through the cracks.
- Outcomes of incident response tactics are not formally tracked or communicated, resulting in a lack of comprehensive understanding of trends and patterns regarding incidents, leading to being re-victimized by the same vector.
- Having a formal incident response document to meet compliance requirements is not useful if no one is adhering to it.
Our Advice
Critical Insight
- You will experience incidents. Don’t rely on ready-made responses. They’re too broad and easy to ignore. Save your organization response time and confusion by developing your own specific incident use cases.
- Analyze, track, and review results of incident response regularly. Without a comprehensive understanding of incident trends and patterns, you can be re-victimized by the same attack vector.
- Establish communication processes and channels well in advance of a crisis. Don’t wait until a state of panic. Collaborate and exchange information with other organizations to stay ahead of incoming threats.
Impact and Result
- Effective and efficient management of incidents involves a formal process of preparation, detection, analysis, containment, eradication, recovery, and post-incident activities.
- This blueprint will walk through the steps of developing a scalable and systematic incident response program relevant to your organization.
Start here – read the Executive Brief
Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should develop and implement a security incident management program, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.
1. Prepare
Equip your organization for incident response with formal documentation of policies and processes.
2. Operate
Act with efficiency and effectiveness as new incidents are handled.
3. Maintain and optimize
Manage and improve the incident management process by tracking metrics, testing capabilities, and leveraging best practices.
Guided Implementations
This guided implementation is a six call advisory process.
Guided Implementation #1 - Prepare
Call #1 - Understand the incident response process, and define your security obligations, scope, and boundaries.
Call #2 - Formalize the incident management charter, RACI, and incident management policy.
Guided Implementation #2 - Operate
Call #1 - Use the framework to develop a general incident management plan.
Call #2 - Prioritize and develop top-priority runbooks.
Guided Implementation #3 - Maintain and optimize
Call #1 - Develop and facilitate tabletop exercises.
Call #2 - Create an incident management metrics program, and assess the success of the incident management program.
Book Your Workshop
Onsite workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost onsite delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.
Module 1: Prepare Your Incident Response Program
The Purpose
- Understand the purpose of incident response.
- Formalize the program.
- Identify key players and escalation points.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Common understanding of the importance of incident response.
- Various business units becoming aware of their roles in the incident management program.
- Formalized documentation.
Activities
Outputs
Assess the current process, obligations, scope, and boundaries of the incident management program.
- Understanding of the incident landscape
Identify key players for the response team and for escalation points.
- An identified incident response team
Formalize documentation.
- A security incident management charter
- A security incident management policy
Prioritize incidents requiring preparation.
- A list of top-priority incidents
- A general security incident management plan
- A security incident response RACI chart
Module 2: Develop Incident-Specific Runbooks
The Purpose
- Document the clear response procedures for top-priority incidents.
Key Benefits Achieved
- As incidents occur, clear response procedures are documented for efficient and effective recovery.
Activities
Outputs
For each top-priority incident, document the workflow from detection through analysis, containment, eradication, recovery, and post-incident analysis.
- Up to five incident-specific runbooks
Module 3: Maintain and Optimize the Program
The Purpose
- Ensure the response procedures are realistic and effective.
- Identify key metrics to measure the success of the program.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Real-time run-through of security incidents to ensure roles and responsibilities are known.
- Understanding of how to measure the success of the program.
Activities
Outputs
Limited scope tabletop exercise.
- Completed tabletop exercise
Discuss key metrics.
- Key success metrics identified
After each Info-Tech experience, we ask our members to quantify the real time savings, monetary impact, and project improvements our research helped them achieve. See our top member experiences for this Blueprint, and what our clients have to say.
Client
Experience
Impact
$ Saved
Days Saved
Saskatchewan Blue Cross
Guided Implementation
8/10
N/A
5
Hyperloop Technologies, Inc.
Workshop
10/10
$38,328
20
Massey University
Workshop
8/10
$63,880
5
OSI Group LLC
Workshop
8/10
$31,855
20
City Of Greenwood Village
Guided Implementation
10/10
$2,512
10
Interdigital Communications
Workshop
9/10
N/A
N/A
First Hope Bank
Workshop
10/10
$12,733
18
PlayPower, Inc
Guided Implementation
9/10
$31,405
10
Toronto Community Housing Corporation
Guided Implementation
10/10
N/A
N/A
Federal Home Loan Bank of New York
Guided Implementation
8/10
N/A
N/A
Centra Networks
Guided Implementation
10/10
N/A
N/A
STERIS Corporation
Workshop
10/10
N/A
N/A
British Columbia Transit
Workshop
9/10
$500K
20
County of Nevada
Guided Implementation
8/10
N/A
7
City Of Airdrie
Guided Implementation
10/10
$10,000
5
Roosevelt Management Company
Workshop
10/10
$47,783
47
Orange County Sanitation Districts
Guided Implementation
2/10
N/A
N/A
The Exploratorium
Guided Implementation
7/10
$2,555
2
GAI Consultants, Inc.
Guided Implementation
10/10
N/A
20
SIG INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY GmbH
Guided Implementation
10/10
N/A
N/A
City Of Atlanta
Guided Implementation
8/10
$7,640
10
Water District #1 of Johnson County
Workshop
10/10
$636K
120
Gwinnett County
Workshop
10/10
N/A
N/A
Financial Services Regulator Authority of Ontario
Guided Implementation
8/10
$10,000
5
Yamana Gold
Guided Implementation
10/10
N/A
N/A
New York University in Abu Dhabi Corporation ? Abu Dhabi
Guided Implementation
10/10
$2,546
20
Willow Brook Christian Services
Guided Implementation
10/10
$2,546
5
Windsor Police Service
Guided Implementation
8/10
$16,000
29
Saskatchewan Blue Cross
Guided Implementation
10/10
$50,000
20
Aipso
Guided Implementation
9/10
N/A
5
