A well-documented incident response playbook is essential for minimizing damage during security events. It defines who does what, how to communicate, and what steps to take during various types of incidents. SOC 2, ISO 27001, and other frameworks require documented incident response procedures.
Incident Types
Data Breach: Unauthorized access to sensitive data (customer PII, credentials)
Malware/Ransomware: Systems infected with malicious software
Account Compromise: Unauthorized access to employee or service accounts
DDoS Attack: Service availability impacted by distributed denial of service
Insider Threat: Malicious or negligent actions by employees
Supply Chain Attack: Compromise through third-party vendors or software
Response Phases
1. Detection: Identify the incident through monitoring, alerts, or reports
2. Triage: Assess severity, scope, and initial impact
3. Containment: Stop the bleeding—isolate affected systems, revoke access
4. Eradication: Remove the threat—patch vulnerabilities, clean systems
5. Recovery: Restore systems and data from backups, verify integrity
6. Lessons Learned: Document findings, update controls, improve detection
Roles & Responsibilities
Incident Commander: Overall coordination, decision-making, resource allocation
Security Team: Technical investigation, containment, evidence preservation
Engineering: System remediation, patching, recovery actions
Legal: Regulatory notification requirements, liability assessment
Communications: Internal/external messaging, customer notifications
Executive Sponsor: Final authority, major decisions, external communications
Communication Plan
Internal: Dedicated incident channel (Slack/Teams), regular status updates
Executive: Briefings at severity thresholds, escalation criteria
Customer: Templates for breach notifications, status page updates
Regulatory: Know your notification obligations (72 hours for GDPR, varies by state for US)
Post-Incident Activities
Blameless Postmortem: Focus on process improvements, not individual blame
Timeline Documentation: Create detailed timeline of events and actions
Root Cause Analysis: Identify underlying causes, not just symptoms
Action Items: Document remediation tasks with owners and deadlines
Playbook Updates: Incorporate lessons learned into future response procedures