What is Incident Response vs. Incident Remediation?

As cyberattacks grow in scale and sophistication, downtime costs associated with cyber incidents can reach up to $225K per day. When it comes to a costly, business-disrupting cyber attack, understanding the distinction between incident response and incident remediation is crucial. 

Incident response and remediation services offer organizations expert assistance in responding to security incidents and proactively implementing effective remediation strategies. These services provide guidance, expertise, and resources to ensure a swift and thorough response and recovery process. They also assist with building resilience to prevent further incidents. 

However, many security providers offer incident response and remediation as separate services so it’s important to understand exactly what each service is used for. 

What is Incident Response?

Incident response is a structured approach to handling security incidents as they unfold; it’s the comprehensive strategy and processes by which an organization responds to a cyber attack. 

This proactive strategy involves identifying, analyzing, and mitigating security breaches, cyberattacks, or other threats in real-time. The objective is to minimize damage, contain the incident's scope, and facilitate a swift recovery while preserving crucial evidence for further investigation. 

What is Incident Remediation?

While incident response is the immediate reaction to mitigate the impact, incident remediation encompasses the subsequent steps to recover, learn from, and fortify against future incidents.

Incident remediation centers on the actions taken after an incident has been addressed to fully eliminate the root cause and any residual effects. It involves identifying and addressing vulnerabilities, patching systems, and implementing necessary changes to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future. 

The primary focus of incident remediation is to strengthen your organization's security posture and reduce the likelihood of future incidents. 

How is Incident Response Different from Incident Remediation?

The key distinction between incident response and incident remediation comes down to timing and objectives. Incident response is an immediate and coordinated effort to contain and mitigate the effects of a security incident as it happens. 

On the other hand, incident remediation takes place after the incident has been controlled and aims to make your organization more resilient by rectifying vulnerabilities and weaknesses to prevent future incidents. 

The Importance of Incident Response

Incident response is a critical component of a resilient cybersecurity strategy. Research suggests that a major security incident is all but inevitable for most businesses. A poorly planned or executed response to an incident puts your organization at greater risk. Swift and effective incident response can minimize financial losses, safeguard sensitive data, maintain customer trust, and preserve an organization's reputation.

Incident Response Methodology: Incident Response Phases and Processes

An incident response methodology encompasses the structured processes used to recover from an incident, as well as the strategy behind them. This methodology typically includes the various incident response phases and the overarching incident response process for how these phases are executed.

How Incident Response Works

Effective incident response follows a systematic approach, typically divided into six phases:

1. Preparation: Establishing incident response policies and procedures, and assembling a skilled incident response team.
2. Identification: Detecting and validating potential security incidents.
3. Containment: Isolating affected systems to prevent further damage.
4. Eradication: Eliminating the root cause of the incident and removing any malicious elements.
5. Recovery: Restoring systems and data to their normal state, returning the business to normal operations
6. Lessons Learned: Analyzing the incident, collecting evidence, documenting lessons, and improving future incident response strategies.

Incident Response Plan (IRP)

An incident response plan is a detailed document that guides incident responders from the initial detection, assessment, and triage of an incident to its containment and resolution. An incident response plan covers roles, responsibilities, communication protocols, and step-by-step procedures to follow during incidents. It answers the what, who, when, and how of incident response: 

• What: What situations are actionable security incidents, and what do responders do when they occur?
• Who: In the event of an incident, who is responsible for which tasks and how others can contact them?
• When: When should specific tasks be completed in the incident response process?
• How: How should the incident responders complete those tasks?

An incident response plan template is a standardized document that your organization can adapt to its specific needs as opposed to starting from scratch.

Key Differences Between Incident Response Plans vs. Business Continuity Plans

Incident response plans and business continuity plans are often used interchangeably, although each varies in its objectives, timeframe and key stakeholders. While they are interconnected, they serve distinct purposes.

Objectives: While incident response plans focus on managing security incidents, business continuity plans encompass broader strategies to ensure an organization's operations continue during and after disruptions. 

Timeframe: Incident response plans are short-term and immediate, while business continuity plans cover an extended time frame for sustained operations. 

Stakeholders: Incident response plans often involve IT and security teams, while business continuity plans involve a wider array of stakeholders, including senior management and other teams within the business. 

Incident Response Team

An incident response team (IRT) is a group of experts responsible for executing the incident response plan. This team typically consists of individuals with diverse skills, such as technical expertise, legal knowledge, communication abilities, and more. 

The three common types of incident response teams are as follows:

Computer Security Incident Response Teams (CSIRTs) are specialized teams dedicated to handling cybersecurity incidents, often consisting of personnel with advanced technical expertise. 

Computer Incident Response Teams (CIRTs) are synonymous with CSIRTs, and the term is used depending on the organization’s style or language. They often work with other enterprise teams, such as public-relations, in responding to an incident. 

Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) is a formally recognized group coordinated through Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute (SEI) to research and report on internet security problems.

Who is Responsible for Incident Response?

Incident response is a collaborative effort that involves various stakeholders, including IT teams, security professionals, legal experts, public relations, operations management, and external partners. Ultimately, senior leadership holds the responsibility to ensure that your organization is well-prepared with the appropriate resources to respond effectively to incidents.

Incident Response Automation

Incident response automation involves using technology to streamline and accelerate the incident response process. Automation tools can aid in threat detection, analysis, containment, and recovery, reducing human intervention and response time. 

Incident Response automation is often driven by cyber threat intelligence and data from within your own organization as well as across industry or global databases. By ingesting and analyzing vast volumes of that data, it can manage and mitigate security incidents far quicker than any human. 

Incident Response Tools and Technologies

Numerous tools aid in incident response, including forensic analysis tools, network monitoring solutions, malware analysis tools, and communication platforms. These tools empower incident response teams to effectively detect, analyze, and address security incidents.

Various technologies, such as Managed Detection and Response (MDR), Security Information and Event Management (SIEM), threat intelligence platforms, and advanced analytics tools, play a crucial role in the incident response process. These platforms help in real-time monitoring, threat detection and response, and data analysis.

Digital forensics technology is an example of an advanced incident response technology that leverages deep visibility and forensic capabilities in your environment before an incident occurs. When it does, the technology provides remote investigation teams with immediate access and forensic capabilities to actively start working within minutes to suppress the threat. 

eSentire's Incident Response Solutions and Services

eSentire offers comprehensive incident response services and solutions designed to halt business-disrupting attacks and help you recover more effectively. Through a combination of best-in-class digital forensics technology and the expertise of our elite incident responders, we provide the fastest threat suppression in the industry, suppressing any incident, anywhere in the world, within 4 hours. With our  On-Demand 24/7 Incident Response service, you can be confident you’re prepared for the most advanced cyberattacks. 

The synergy between incident response and remediation is pivotal in maintaining cyber resilience. By adopting a proactive approach to incident response, guided by advanced incident response technology, a well-structured incident response plan, and the expertise of an incident response team, you will be well-prepared against evolving threats. 

Contact us to learn more about eSentire Digital Forensics and Incident Response services.