An incident response plan refers to the methodology an organization uses to respond to and manage a cyber attack. An attack or data breach can wreak havoc potentially affecting customers, intellectual property, company time and resources, and brand value.
An incident response plan aims to reduce this damage and recover as quickly as possible. Investigation is also a key component in order to learn from the attack and better prepare for the future. Because many companies today experience a breach at some point, a well-developed and repeatable incident response plan is the best way to protect your company.
As cyber attacks increase in scale and frequency, incident response plans become more vital to a company’s cyber defenses. Poor incident response can alienate customers and trigger greater government regulation.