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Incident Response Plan

What's on this page

  • Core content for this topic in the Inkorporated enterprise OS.
  • Practical guidance, roles, or standards as applicable.

What this enables

IR phases

flowchart TD
  prep[Preparation] --> det[Detection]
  det --> contain[Containment]
  contain --> erad[Eradication]
  erad --> rec[Recovery]
  rec --> lessons[Lessons learned]
  • Consistent enterprise operations and decision-making.
  • Shared language for humans and cyborg AI agents.

1. Purpose

The purpose of this Incident Response Plan (IRP) is to provide a structured approach for handling security incidents. The goals are to minimize damage, reduce recovery time and costs, and ensure effective communication.

2. Roles and Responsibilities

  • Incident Commander (IC): The primary leader responsible for managing the incident response.
  • Incident Response Team (IRT): Technical staff responsible for investigating and remediating the incident (Security, IT, Engineering).
  • Legal Counsel: Advises on legal obligations, regulatory reporting, and liability.
  • Communications: Manages internal and external communications (PR, HR).

3. Incident Response Phases

Phase 1: Preparation

  • Maintain an up-to-date contact list for the IRT.
  • Ensure monitoring and logging tools are active and effective.
  • Conduct regular table-top exercises to test the plan.

Phase 2: Identification & Detection

  • Monitor systems for anomalies (IDS/IPS, log analysis).
  • Encourage employee reporting of suspicious activities.
  • Triage: Verify if the event is a genuine security incident and classify its severity (Low, Medium, High, Critical).

Phase 3: Containment

  • Short-term Containment: Immediate actions to stop the spread (e.g., disconnecting a compromised host from the network).
  • System Backup: Take a forensic image of the affected systems if necessary for legal evidence.
  • Long-term Containment: Apply temporary fixes to allow operations to continue while the root cause is addressed.

Phase 4: Eradication

  • Remove the root cause of the incident (e.g., delete malware, disable breached accounts, patch vulnerabilities).
  • Verify that the threat is completely eliminated.

Phase 5: Recovery

  • Restore systems from clean backups.
  • Monitor the systems closely for any signs of re-infection or residual threat.
  • Declare the incident closed when operations return to normal.

Phase 6: Lessons Learned (Post-Incident)

  • Conduct a "Post-Mortem" meeting within 2 weeks of incident closure.
  • Document what happened, what went well, and what needs improvement.
  • Update the IRP and security controls based on findings.

4. Reporting Requirements

  • Internal: Update the Executive Team regularly during Critical/High incidents.
  • External: Notify regulatory bodies (e.g., GDPR authorities) within 72 hours if personal data is compromised. Notify affected customers/partners as required by law and contracts.

5. Contact Information

  • Security Emergency: security-emergency@company.com or call +1-555-0199.