9 Incident management and recovery

 

This chapter covers

  • Incident management in cybersecurity
  • Evaluating and improving incident response
  • Techniques for effective incident analysis
  • Strategies for reporting and communicating incidents
  • Methods for incident mitigation and recovery

Incident management is a cornerstone of any cybersecurity strategy, enabling organizations to address and recover from cyber threats. Managing incidents swiftly and accurately often defines whether threat remains minor or spirals into a major breach. This chapter focuses on responding to and recovering from incidents using proven methodologies and a systematic approach that is both efficient and repeatable.

We investigate the steps necessary to build a comprehensive incident management plan—from the initial detection of a security event to its resolution and communication with stakeholders. Each section provides practical insights and metrics to help organizations assess and improve their incident response capabilities. By the end of this chapter, you will learn how to develop an effective incident management process, analyze incidents to prevent future occurrences, and verify that your organization is prepared to respond to any cybersecurity threat.

9.1 Incident management

9.2 Planning and preparation

9.3 Testing an IRP

9.3.1 Tabletop exercise example

9.3.2 Tabletop exercise metrics

9.3.3 Table for tabletop exercise evaluation sample

9.4 Detection and documentation

9.4.1 Three-tier severity model

9.4.2 Five-tier severity model

9.4.3 Changing severity over time

9.4.4 Practical example of incident documentation

9.4.5 Chain of custody

9.4.6 Incident management metrics

9.4.7 Incident management metrics exercise

9.5 Incident triage and analysis

9.5.1 Case study: Financial institution data breach

9.5.2 Incident metrics

9.5.3 Incident metrics exercise

9.5.4 Incident metrics table