Gartner® Market Guide for Digital Forensics and Incident Response (DFIR) Services

Gartner Market Guide for Digital Forensics and Incident Response (DFIR) Services

The increasing number and severity of cybersecurity incidents has prompted growing adoption of Digital Forensics and Incident Response (DFIR) services. The Gartner Market Guide for DFIR services can aid in identifying the most suitable cyber incident response provider for your organization.

Gartner describes DFIR services as “advisory services that help clients identify the extent of, and deal with, events and requirements such as security and IT incident investigations, forensic response and triage, and security breaches. They are typically offered by firms on a retainer-based service model, but on-demand or emergency services are also available. A retainer-based service contract encompasses a wide variety of terms and conditions, and is meant to dovetail with the client organization’s documented incident response processes and procedures.”

Some key findings and recommendations of the Gartner Market Guide for Digital Forensics and Incident Response services include:

• Most organizations are not prepared to respond to and manage cybersecurity incidents.
• Commoditization makes it difficult for incident response buyers to understand how to select the best incident response provider for their needs and requirements.
• An incident response retainer is not a replacement for establishing policies and procedures for handling cybersecurity incidents.
• It is important to encourage staff across your organization to operate under the assumption that a data breach will occur.
• You should draw on the expertise of your incident response provider to help develop and improve your cyber incident response preparedness.
• If you have the budget, prepaying for an incident response retainer will ensure preferential response times, reduced rates, and access to services to support your requirements in case of an incident.
• IR services are increasingly obtained via the buyer’s managed detection and response (MDR) provider or a managed security service provider (MSSP). These attached IR services are typically invoked by completing a separate statement of work.

Read the DFIR market guide to learn more about DFIR services and processes, the direction of the market and get a list of current incident response providers.

1. Market Guide for Digital Forensics and Incident Response Services By Prateek Bhajanka, Wam Voster, 21 September 2021
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