Incident Management and Response Services

Do you have a Incident Response Services: Whether or not your organization is prepared, security breaches have become common occurrences, for this you will need Data Breach Incident Management team, sometimes the bad guys win, and security measures occasionally fail to prevent an incident. Cyber Security Operations has experts in incident response, data breach Incident Management, forensics and electronic discovery who can support or supplement your team when suspected unauthorized, illegal or malicious activities are detected or you are ready to develop a comprehensive plan so you are prepared in the event of a breach.

1. Define what constitutes an information security incident and review how varied incidents can be classified.

2. Consider what constitutes an information security incident that requires special handling (vs. common security events). Review incident classification schemes that allow for aligning handling procedures to potential impacts and risks.

3. Identify and establish essential roles and procedures needed for effective incident management.

4. Evaluate the technical and operational capabilities of your organization to detect and respond to security incidents. Consider how senior management support can be gained to formalize effective incident management processes. 

5. Create effective communication, coordination, and reporting plans for broad spectrum of incidents including data breach events.

6. Identify key partners and stakeholders and levels of communication and engagement. Review the legal and contractual communication requirements associated with data types that may be involved in Information Security Incidents.

7. Adapt and learn from security incidents and strive for continual improvement by identifying and planning for training needs and enhancement of response capabilities.

Software complexity, near universal worldwide connectivity, and the criminals determined to profit from these factors, make information security incidents inevitable. The goal of an effective information security incident management strategy is a balance of driving the impact of the incidents down, while processing incidents as efficiently as possible. Good incident management will also help with the prevention of future incidents.

How this plays out is to develop a program that prepares for incidents. From a management perspective, it involves identification of resources needed for incident handling, as well as developing and communicating the formal detection and reporting processes. An effective security program includes important aspects of detecting, reporting, and responding to adverse security events as well as weaknesses which may lead to events, if they are not appropriately addressed. The primary elements of incident management are:

Preparation, Detection, and Reporting

Security Incident Response and Process Improvement

Effective incident response in many organizations other than IT, involve having trained personnel equipped and ready for response. So it is with information security incident management. Having trained individuals ready to respond with advance preparation is the first task. Designing an effective means of the detection of incidents is also essential (and this often consists of trained users and administrators, together with technical controls.) Effective, appropriate communication at all levels of an organization is essential for limiting the impact of security events, using formal detection and reporting processes. All members of the community should be trained and comfortable regarding procedures for reporting failures, weaknesses, and suspected incidents; methods to recognize and detect problems with security protections; as well as how to escalate reporting appropriately.

In addition, technical controls must be implemented for the automated detection of security events, coupled with as near real-time reporting as possible, to investigate and initiate immediate responses to problems. For new IT systems, often the best time to develop automated detection of security events is when the preventive security controls are being architected.

Confirmation of an adverse security event is an inevitable outcome in any organization. A formal management procedure and policy for incident response, including roles and responsibilities for each aspect of the response is essential. Aspects include funding and cost models, analysis, containment and recovery responsibilities, decision making authority for notifications; legal and/or law enforcement involvement; forensic investigations; responsibility for after-incident debriefing; and policy, procedure, and process improvements.

Preparation involves identification of resources needed for incident handling and having trained individuals ready to respond, and by developing and communicating a formal detection and reporting process. Effective, appropriate communication at all levels of an organization is essential for limiting the impact of security events. NIST suggests the following policy components:

• Statement of management commitment

• Purpose and objectives of the policy

• Scope of the policy (to whom and what it applies and under what circumstances)

• Definition of computer security incidents and their consequences within the context of the organization

• Organizational structure and delineation of roles, responsibilities, and levels of authority (should include the authority of the incident response team to confiscate or disconnect equipment, to monitor suspicious activity, and the requirements for reporting certain types of incidents)

• Prioritization or severity ratings of incidents

• Performance measures

• Reporting and contact resources

Reporting Information Security Events

Detection and Reporting

Designing an effective means of the detection of incidents is also essential, using both trained users and trained system administrators, and various technical controls. All members of the community should be trained and comfortable regarding

• procedures for reporting failures, weaknesses, and suspected incidents

• methods to recognize and detect problems with security protections

• how to escalate reporting appropriately

In addition, technical controls must be implemented for the automated detection of security events, coupled with as near real-time reporting as possible, to investigate and initiate immediate responses to problems. For new IT systems, often the best time to develop automated detection of security events is when the preventive security controls are being developed and implemented.

The most fundamental approaches to detecting intrusions are to monitor server logs for signs of unauthorized access, to monitor firewall or router logs for abnormal events, and to monitor network performance for spikes in traffic. Since intruders can alter or destroy local logs, a best practice is to take the precaution of sending logs to a remote log server. This includes a combination of host-level and network-level detections, which when used together provide the most powerful system for detecting problems.

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