Incident Response: 2025 Guide to Process and Technology
10 min read
What Is Incident Response?
Incident response refers to a structured approach taken by an organization to manage and mitigate the impact of security incidents. It involves a coordinated response to unexpected events that threaten to harm computer systems and networks.
The goal is to handle the situation in a way that limits damage and reduces recovery time and costs. This involves identifying the source of the problem, containing it, eradicating the threat, and then recovering business functions.
Organizations develop incident response processes to ensure they are prepared to quickly react to potential threats. This preparation includes setting up a dedicated incident response team, trained to handle various potential computer security incidents. It is important for organizations to regularly evaluate and update their response plans to address emerging threats.
This is part of a series of articles about cybersecurity tools.
In this article, you will learn:
What Are Security Incidents?
Security incidents refer to any unauthorized actions or events that threaten the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of an organization’s information systems and data. These incidents can vary in scope and severity, often resulting from malicious activity or human error.
Common types of security incidents include:
Malware attacks: The introduction of malicious software such as viruses, ransomware, or worms to damage or disrupt systems.
Phishing: Attempts to deceive individuals into providing sensitive information like login credentials or financial data through fraudulent emails or websites.
Denial of service (DoS): Attacks that overwhelm systems or networks, making them unavailable to users.
Insider threats: Security risks posed by employees or contractors who misuse their access privileges to steal data or sabotage systems.
Data breaches: Unauthorized access to sensitive data, resulting in the exposure, theft, or misuse of information.
Advanced persistent threats (APTs): Prolonged, targeted attacks where an adversary remains undetected within a network to steal information over time.
The Importance of Incident Response
Having an incident response plan helps organizations:
Minimize damage: Prompt action during a security breach can significantly reduce the potential harm to an organization’s systems and data. With a swift response, organizations can contain the spread of a threat, prevent further data loss, and reduce downtime.
Protect sensitive data: By identifying breaches or potential vulnerabilities early, organizations can act to secure proprietary and customer information. Incident response plans often include measures for data encryption, access controls, and intrusion detection systems.
Ensure regulatory compliance: Incident response is vital for ensuring compliance with data protection regulations such as GDPR or HIPAA, which mandate specific actions in the event of a security breach. These regulations often require organizations to report breaches within a stringent timeframe, and failure to do so can result in heavy fines and sanctions. Having a well-documented incident response plan helps organizations adhere to these deadlines.
Zack Barak
CISO, Coralogix and Co-Founder, Snowbit
With over a decade of experience in the cybersecurity space, Zack is focused on delivering robust yet affordable security management for organizations with rapidly scaling data volumes.
Tips from the expert:
In my experience, here are tips that can help you better optimize your incident response process:
Pre-position critical assets for recovery: Ensure your backup systems and critical software repositories are geographically dispersed and network-isolated. This guarantees data and systems can be restored securely without exposure to the same threats.
Leverage threat hunting in preparation phase: Proactive threat hunting within the environment helps uncover latent threats or vulnerabilities before they escalate into incidents. Integrate threat-hunting feedback into incident response planning.
Prioritize psychological resilience training: Incident response teams operate under high pressure. Regular training in managing stress and decision-making under duress helps them remain effective in real-world scenarios.
Institute a “zero trust” philosophy during containment: During containment, apply “zero trust” principles by validating every system and user attempting to access resources. This prevents attackers from exploiting lateral movement opportunities.
Automate repetitive tasks with SOAR to reduce human error: Use Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) platforms to automate mundane but critical incident response tasks, like log correlation and alert prioritization, to minimize the risk of human error.
What Is an Incident Response Plan?
An incident response plan is a formalized set of procedures outlining how an organization will react to security incidents. The plan serves as a guide for managing and mitigating potential threats, detailing the roles and responsibilities of the incident response team. It includes protocols for detection, assessment, containment, and recovery.
Creating an incident response plan involves assessing potential risks and vulnerabilities and establishing preventive measures and response strategies. It is essential for organizations to update their plans regularly to address evolving threats and incorporate lessons learned from previous incidents.
Who Handles Incident Response?
Incident response is typically managed by a dedicated incident response team (IRT) or a security operations center (SOC). These teams are composed of cybersecurity professionals trained to address various types of security incidents. They are responsible for monitoring network activity, detecting potential breaches, and executing the incident response plan to minimize damage and recover affected systems.
The scope and structure of an incident response team may vary depending on the organization’s size and resources. Some organizations may have a fully in-house team, while others might rely on external security firms or hybrid models combining both. Regardless of the structure, the team must have clear communication channels and be able to act decisively.
The preparation phase focuses on readiness for handling potential security incidents. It involves developing, reviewing, and updating the incident response plan and ensuring all team members are trained in their roles. Organizations should conduct regular simulations and drills to test their response capabilities.
During the preparation phase, organizations should also ensure that necessary tools and resources are in place, such as updated security software, backup systems, and access to threat intelligence. Establishing clear communication protocols and designating responsibilities are important to enable swift action during an incident.
Detection & Triage
The detection and triage phase centers on identifying and assessing potential security incidents. This phase relies on monitoring tools and threat intelligence to detect anomalies or suspicious activities within the network. Prompt detection is crucial for minimizing the impact of an incident.
Once an incident is detected, triage involves analyzing and prioritizing incidents based on their severity and potential impact on critical systems. Quick, accurate triage helps allocate appropriate resources and attention to the most pressing threats.
Containment
The containment phase aims to control and limit the extent of damage caused by a security incident. This involves isolating affected systems or networks to prevent the threat from spreading further. Short-term containment strategies might include disabling affected network access points or blocking malicious IPs, while long-term strategies involve more comprehensive measures like patching vulnerabilities or reconfiguring network settings.
During containment, it’s crucial to maintain business operations where possible, minimizing disruption. Careful planning and execution can help protect unaffected systems and data while allowing the incident response team to focus efforts on neutralizing the threat.
Remediation/Eradication
Remediation or eradication focuses on eliminating the root cause of the security incident. This involves removing malware, patching vulnerabilities, and strengthening security controls to prevent recurrence. Comprehensive investigation and analysis help understand how the incident occurred and ensure all traces of the threat are eradicated.
Collaboration across IT departments is often necessary during this phase to implement effective remediation measures. Once eradication is confirmed, testing and validation ensure systems are securely restored to normal operations. Documentation of the remediation process provides insights for improving future security measures and refining incident response plans.
Recovery
The recovery phase involves restoring systems and operations to their pre-incident state while ensuring no reinfection or residual threats exist. This process can involve restoring data from backups, re-establishing secure network connection settings, and validating that all systems function correctly.
Restoration might also include communication with affected stakeholders, such as customers or partners, to rebuild trust and comply with legal obligations, if applicable. Detailed post-incident review practices can further assist in this recovery phase.
Lessons Learned
Lessons learned is a reflective phase where the organization reviews the incident, evaluates their response, and identifies areas for improvement. This involves conducting a post-incident analysis to understand what worked well and where vulnerabilities remain. Documenting these findings contributes to refining the incident response plan.
Collecting feedback from all stakeholders involved in the response process helps drive improvements in both technical and communication aspects. Regular reviews ensure the organization remains agile and adaptable to new threats.
Incident Response in the Cloud
Incident response in the cloud refers to managing and mitigating security incidents specifically within cloud environments. Cloud infrastructure introduces unique challenges, such as shared responsibility between cloud service providers (CSPs) and customers, dynamic resource scaling, and increased complexity in monitoring. Therefore, organizations need to tailor their incident response strategies to account for these differences.
Key elements of cloud incident response include understanding the shared responsibility model, where CSPs handle security “of” the cloud (e.g., hardware, network, physical infrastructure) while customers are responsible for security “in” the cloud (e.g., applications, data, and configurations). This division requires close coordination with the CSP during incidents to ensure a clear understanding of roles and actions.
Cloud environments also demand specialized tools for incident detection and response. These include cloud-native security services, such as logging and monitoring solutions provided by the CSP, or third-party tools that integrate into cloud ecosystems. Automated responses are especially important in cloud environments,given the need to scale quickly.
Organizations must also consider the geographic and legal implications of storing data across multiple regions, which can affect incident response strategies, especially when there are compliance or data residency requirements. Regularly testing and updating cloud-specific incident response plans ensures they remain effective.
What Are Incident Response Playbooks?
Incident response playbooks are predefined guides that provide steps for responding to security incidents. They outline workflow processes, communication plans, and escalation procedures to ensure a standardized response across the organization. Playbooks simplify operations during incidents, enabling fast and cohesive responses by defining clear roles and responsibilities.
Each playbook is tailored to an incident type, such as phishing attacks, malware outbreaks, or data breaches. By providing detailed instructions, playbooks allow incident response teams to react with greater confidence and precision. Regularly updating and testing playbooks ensures they remain relevant, accounting for new threats and organizational changes.
Key Incident Response Tools and Technologies
Here are some of the main types of solutions used to implement incident response processes.
ASM (Attack Surface Management)
ASM tools enable organizations to identify, assess, and manage the various surfaces where attackers might exploit vulnerabilities. By continuously monitoring and evaluating these surfaces, ASM enhances visibility into the organization’s security posture. This insight allows security teams to prioritize remediation efforts on high-risk areas.
ASM helps automate the identification of shadow IT and misconfigurations, which can otherwise lead to unmonitored points of entry for cybercriminals. Through regular assessments and alerts, organizations remain informed of potential exposure, facilitating a rapid incident response when needed. Maintaining an updated inventory of assets is crucial for effective ASM operations.
SIEM (Security Information and Event Management)
SIEM systems gather, analyze, and monitor log data from across an organization’s IT infrastructure, providing real-time insights into potential security threats. SIEM tools enable incident response teams to identify unusual patterns, correlate events from multiple sources, and prioritize threats based on their potential impact. By centralizing data visibility, SIEM enhances the decision-making process during security incidents.
SIEM platforms often include automated response capabilities, allowing rapid mitigation actions to be triggered without manual intervention. Regular tuning and updating of SIEM’s detection rules are essential to ensure responsiveness to evolving threats. SIEM deployment aids in maintaining regulatory compliance through detailed auditing and reporting functionalities.
SOAR (Security Orchestration, Automation and Response)
SOAR platforms integrate and automate security operations, simplifying incident response by coordinating among disparate tools and processes. By automating routine tasks, SOAR reduces response time and resource demands, allowing security teams to focus on critical analysis and decision-making processes. This coordination improves consistency in responding to incidents.
SOAR systems can execute predefined playbooks and workflows, ensuring incidents are handled according to best practices and organizational policies. Customization and scalability enable SOAR platforms to adapt to an organization’s requirements. Continuous monitoring and improvement of these systems foster threat detection and rapid incident resolution.
UEBA (User and Entity Behavior Analytics)
UEBA tools analyze patterns of user and entity behaviors to detect anomalies indicative of security threats. By establishing baselines of normal activity and identifying deviations, UEBA helps uncover potential insider threats, compromised accounts, or anomalous network activity. This analysis enhances the detection accuracy of stealthy or sophisticated attacks.
Incorporating machine learning and advanced analytics, UEBA systems provide valuable context to security incidents, enabling more informed and targeted responses. By focusing on behavior rather than just signatures or rules, UEBA augments threat detection capabilities beyond conventional methods.
XDR (Extended Detection and Response)
XDR provides a unified approach to threat detection across multiple security layers, such as network, endpoint, server, and email solutions. By integrating data from various sources, XDR improves threat visibility and response by correlating alerts and offering a holistic view of security events. This reduces the response time and improves the overall investigation process.
The consolidation of threat data in XDR platforms allows security teams to manage and respond to incidents more efficiently, with fewer resources. Automated analytics and incident scoring help prioritize responses, ensuring the most critical threats are addressed first.
Managed SIEM with Coralogix
Coralogix sets itself apart in observability with its modern architecture, enabling real-time insights into logs, metrics, and traces with built-in cost optimization. Coralogix’s straightforward pricing covers all its platform offerings including APM, RUM, SIEM, infrastructure monitoring and much more. With unparalleled support that features less than 1 minute response times and 1 hour resolution times, Coralogix is a leading choice for thousands of organizations across the globe.
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