Incident Response Plan

A predefined set of instructions and procedures for what to do when a cybersecurity incident occurs. Think of it as a fire drill but for cyber incidents - it details who is on the response team, how to contact them, steps to contain and investigate the incident, and how to communicate during and after.

‍

A good IR plan covers various scenarios (e.g., malware outbreak, data breach, website defacement) and assigns roles: who assesses the situation, who communicates with management or customers, who works on recovery, etc.

‍

For a small business, an IR plan could be a simple document saying, for example: "If our customer data is compromised: 1) IT person X immediately takes affected systems offline, 2) Manager Y contacts our legal counsel and drafts a customer notice, 3) we change all passwords, 4) we restore data from backup Z, etc."

‍

The main point is to avoid panic and chaos in the heat of an incident by having a clear, calm recipe to follow. Regularly updating and practicing this plan (through drills or tabletop exercises) ensures your team is ready when something happens.