What is Cybersecurity Incident Response?
Cybersecurity Incident Response (IR) is a critical function within an organization’s overall cybersecurity strategy. It refers to the process of detecting, responding to, managing, and recovering from cybersecurity incidents or attacks. A cybersecurity incident is any event that compromises the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of an organization’s systems or data. The primary goal of incident response is to minimize the impact of these incidents, swiftly contain any potential damage, restore normal operations, and prevent future incidents.
The process typically begins as soon as an incident is identified. This involves a series of structured actions such as identification, containment, eradication of the threat, recovery, and lessons learned. Incident response is dynamic and requires a coordinated, multi-disciplinary approach to be effective. It is not limited to handling major attacks like malware infections or data breaches but also encompasses incidents such as misconfigurations, unauthorized access attempts, and insider threats.
A well-defined incident response process can significantly reduce the time and cost involved in recovering from a cybersecurity incident, ensuring that business continuity is maintained while protecting sensitive assets.