7 Characteristics of an Effective Cyber Incident Response Plan

What are the characteristics of an effective cyber incident response plan? 

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for organisations to engage in crisis preparation has never before been so acutely highlighted – especially in terms of cyber security.

This global outbreak provides a perfect storm for cybercriminals who are exploiting both commercial operators, as they move to remote working models or return to the office, and individuals who, in a climate of concern and disinformation, are more vulnerable to phishing scams. With the World Health Organization reporting a fivefold increase in the number of cyber attacks directed at their organisation – based on the same period last year – and Google blocking 18 million COVID-19 themed phishing emails per day, cyber resilience is key to navigating today’s complex risk ecosystem.

The creation of an incident response plan is an essential first step for all forward-thinking leaders if they wish to mitigate the threat posed to their business by a major cyber security incident. Forming a plan and ensuring that it is regularly drilled and tested will embed the response flow into the muscle-memory of employees and allow them to bring order to the chaos of any security incident.

In this infographic, we outline the seven characteristics of an effective cyber incident response plan.

Incident response planning, more so than ever before, is key to business resilience. Having a detailed plan, in conjunction with a well-trained workforce, greatly increases the likelihood that teams will be able to detect malicious activity, triage it appropriately, and know how to alert the wider organisation.  

A cyber security incident can present business leaders with one of the worst days of their professional lives. However, with appropriate planning and preparation, companies will be able to efficiently respond and recover from a major incident. Ensuring your response plan features the best-practice elements mentioned above will go a long way towards minimising the impact of the incident and be the difference between an organisational disaster and a laudable success story.

For more detail on this subject, read our team’s full report as featured by AXA XL.