Steps for effective security incident management
With the sophistication and severity of modern cyber-attacks increasing daily, your business requires a methodical and calculated approach to security incident response. Given the business world’s reliance on information technology, it is critical your incident response team knows exactly how to respond to security events. Effective security incident management limits damage and lowers the cost of recovery caused by information security breaches.
What is security incident management?
Security incident management is the process of detecting, responding to, investigating, and reporting on security incidents in real-time. It provides a comprehensive, in-depth view of all security issues. A security incident can be anything from an active threat to an attempted intrusion to a data breach or breach, for example. Policy violations and unauthorized access to sensitive data like health, financial, social security numbers, and personally identifiable records are all examples of security incidents.
Security incident management programs should integrate a number of different procedures or actions to ensure that all activities from detection to reporting follow a streamlined process. These programs should also be able to adapt to changing circumstances while maintaining efficiency and effectiveness at all times.
The following five steps will help you design an effective security incident management program:
Develop a strategic plan
In order to design a program that is as efficient and effective as possible, security incident management teams must first develop a strategic plan that outlines their processes and procedures. This plan provides a clear picture of how incident management will work across the organization. It allows teams to identify any areas of weakness in their procedures and correct them before any problems occur. A strategic plan will also help you ensure that your incident management program is integrated with other aspects of your security program. This is particularly important if your organization shares critical assets with other organizations or is a critical infrastructure organization. If you want to manage cybersecurity incidents more effectively, developing a strategic plan is essential.
Identify critical assets
Cybersecurity incident management programs should begin by identifying the critical assets of the organization. Critical assets include anything that could result in significant damage to your organization if it were compromised or lost. This includes data, systems, networks, and other assets.
Incident management teams should also identify any partners that share or rely on these critical assets. This will help you ensure that the incident management program has the authority and resources it needs to respond to incidents effectively. Assets should be designated as critical based on the risk they pose to the organization. Risk can be determined by assessing the likelihood of a threat occurring and the potential impact on the organization if that threat were to be realized.
Set trigger levels for detecting incidents
Once you have identified the critical assets of your organization, you will need to set trigger levels for detecting incidents. These trigger levels are indicators that an incident has occurred. They will tell your incident management team when an incident has occurred and the incident response process should begin.
There may be multiple trigger levels for different types of incidents. For example, there may be one trigger level for data breaches and another for unauthorized login attempts. Each trigger level must be clearly defined in order to avoid false positives. Setting a single, high-level trigger level is not an effective approach. Instead, your team should set multiple trigger levels that address specific indicators of security incidents. This will help ensure that incidents are detected as quickly as possible while reducing false positives. It will also help your team prioritize incidents by severity.
Establish incident response protocols
After you have set trigger levels for detecting incidents, you will need to establish incident response protocols. These protocols will outline the steps your team will take when responding to an incident. Some organizations choose to maintain separate protocols for external and internal incidents. Others choose to maintain a single protocol that addresses both types of incidents. The choice will depend on your organization’s needs and circumstances. Regardless of the approach you take, you should clearly define your incident response protocols. You should also regularly review and update your protocols as needed to ensure they remain current and effective.
Educate employees and train personnel
Finally, you will need to educate employees and train personnel. This will ensure that all employees know how to detect, respond to, and report on incidents. It will also help make sure that each person knows what to do in a given situation. Training and education should cover basic cybersecurity best practices. By educating and training personnel, your incident management program will be more efficient and effective.
Be prepared for anything with managed security experts
Security incident management is an essential part of any company’s security strategy. When incident management programs are designed effectively, they can help organizations minimize the damage caused by security incidents. The managed security experts at ThreatAdvice offer a range of services and solutions to help ensure your organization is prepared for any security event.