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Develop and Implement a Security Incident Management Program
Create a scalable incident response program without breaking the bank.
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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
Your Challenge
- Security incidents are inevitable, but how they’re dealt with can make or break an organization. Poor incident response negatively affects business practices, including workflow, revenue generation, and public image.
- The incident response of most organizations is ad hoc at best. A formal management plan is rarely developed or adhered to, resulting in ineffective firefighting responses and inefficient allocation of resources.
Our Advice
Critical Insight
- You will experience incidents. Don’t rely on ready-made responses anymore. 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 revictimized 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
- Short term: Streamline the process of formalizing an incident management program customized to your organization-specific needs. Respond faster and more effectively by leveraging a mature process rather than starting from scratch.
- Long term: Once the program is in place, damage will be minimized. As incidents are properly tracked, analyzed, and handled according to a well-defined process, potential breaches will be reduced to minor incidents.
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
