Incident response plan templates

An incident response plan (IRP) template is a structured blueprint that organizations use to help them systematically address and manage cybersecurity incidents. It provides a standardized framework that can (and should) be tailored to an organization’s environment and needs. This enables rapid, effective, and consistent reactions to security breaches, minimizing potential damage and expediting recovery.

NIST Incident Response Plan

The NIST Special Publication 800 NIST SP 800-61r3, titled “Incident Response Recommendations and Considerations for Cybersecurity Risk Management” provides a comprehensive framework and guidelines for organizations to establish and maintain robust incident response capabilities. It outlines a structured incident response lifecycle framed through NIST’s Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) 2.0’s six core functions, including govern, identify, protect, detect, respond, and recover. The publication—and its predecessor NIST Special Publication 800-61, Revision 2, Computer Security Incident Handling Guide—have served as globally recognized standards for effective incident management.

How it helps organizations

The NIST framework significantly aids organizations by integrating incident response directly into the broader NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) 2.0. This holistic approach ensures that incident response is not a standalone reactive measure but a continuous, proactive, and integral part of an organization’s overall cybersecurity risk management strategy, spanning governance, identification, protection, detection, response, and recovery functions. By aligning incident response with these core functions, the publication helps organizations enhance their resilience, make more informed decisions during incidents, foster continuous improvement through lessons learned, and facilitate clear communication across all stakeholders, ultimately leading to a more mature and effective cybersecurity posture.

Incident Handler’s Handbook

The Incident Handler’s Handbook, published by the SANS Institute, is a practical guide designed for security professionals who are actively involved in responding to cybersecurity incidents. Unlike a high-level policy template, it delves into the tactical and technical aspects of incident handling, offering actionable advice and best practices for frontline responders. It often covers specific techniques for investigating various types of incidents, such as malware infections, network intrusions, and denial-of-service attacks.

How it helps organizations

This handbook provides the hands-on knowledge and operational guidance essential for incident response teams. It equips individual incident handlers with the skills and methodologies needed to effectively detect, analyze, contain, and eradicate threats. It bridges the gap between theoretical incident response planning and practical execution, ensuring that responders can make informed decisions and take appropriate actions during critical moments. This resource is invaluable for developing the technical proficiency and analytical capabilities of a response team.

Red Canary Incident Response & Readiness Guide

The Red Canary Incident Response & Readiness Guide is a resource developed by Red Canary. This guide often provides a more contemporary perspective on incident response, emphasizing readiness, proactive threat hunting, and leveraging modern security technologies like endpoint detection and response (EDR) to rapidly identify and respond to sophisticated threats. It typically combines strategic planning with practical advice on building a resilient and adaptive security program.

How it helps organizations

This guide assists organizations in developing an incident response capability that is attuned to current threat landscapes and leverages modern security tooling. It encourages a shift from purely reactive response to a more proactive stance, focusing on early detection and rapid containment through continuous monitoring and threat intelligence. Organizations can use this guide to refine their incident response playbooks, optimize their use of security technologies, and enhance their overall readiness against emerging cyber threats. It often provides actionable checklists and considerations for streamlining the response process.

Center for Internet Security Incident Response Policy Template for CIS Control 17

The Center for Internet Security (CIS) provides an Incident Response Policy Template specifically aligned with CIS Control 17, “Incident Response Management.” CIS Controls are a prioritized set of cybersecurity best practices designed to help organizations improve their cyber defenses. This template serves as a policy-level document, providing the foundational structure for an organization’s incident response program, ensuring it aligns with a recognized and effective security framework. It outlines the organizational commitment, scope, roles, and high-level procedures for managing incidents.

How it helps organizations

This template is highly beneficial for organizations seeking to establish a formal and structured incident response policy rooted in a widely accepted security standard. By implementing this template, organizations can ensure their incident response efforts are comprehensive, formally documented, and integrated into their broader cybersecurity strategy. It helps in meeting compliance requirements, clearly defining responsibilities, and establishing a consistent approach to incident management, thereby improving overall cybersecurity maturity and reducing the risk of successful attacks.

Cybersecure Canada

Cybersecure Canada is a government-backed certification program and initiative from the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (CCCS) aimed primarily at helping small and medium-sized organizations (SMEs) improve their cybersecurity posture. It provides a set of baseline cybersecurity controls and best practices, including requirements related to incident response planning. The program offers guidance and a pathway for SMEs to achieve a recognized certification demonstrating their adherence to essential cybersecurity measures.

How it helps organizations

Cybersecure Canada is particularly valuable for SMEs that may lack extensive cybersecurity resources or expertise. It offers an accessible and manageable framework for implementing fundamental cybersecurity practices, including developing a basic incident response plan. By following its guidelines and pursuing certification, smaller organizations can establish a foundational capability to manage and respond to cybersecurity incidents, protecting their operations, data, and reputation. It helps build trust with customers and partners by demonstrating a commitment to cybersecurity best practices.

An effective IRP template guides an organization through the entire lifecycle of a security incident, from preventing it to learning from it. These templates ensure a systematic and coordinated approach, essential for mitigating damage and maintaining operational continuity. Key components of such templates often align with a phased approach to incident management.

Preparation

Preparation involves all the proactive steps an organization takes before a security incident occurs. This foundational phase establishes the necessary groundwork to respond effectively when an incident arises.

Tips for robust preparation include the following:

Develop comprehensive policies and procedures

Create clear, documented guidelines for various incident types, outlining roles, responsibilities, and decision-making authority. This includes defining what constitutes an incident and outlining reporting procedures.

Form an incident response team (IRT)

Assemble a dedicated team with diverse skill sets, including technical experts, legal counsel, communications specialists, and management representatives. Clearly define each member’s specific roles and responsibilities within the response framework.

Establish training and awareness programs

Regularly train IRT members on incident handling procedures, tools, and technologies. Conduct organization-wide security awareness training to educate employees on recognizing and reporting suspicious activities, fostering a security-conscious culture.

Implement robust communication plans

Develop clear internal communication protocols for notifying relevant stakeholders, including management, legal, and human resources. Prepare external communication strategies for engaging with customers, partners, law enforcement, and regulatory bodies, including pre-approved statements and contact lists.

Identify critical assets

Catalog and prioritize an organization’s vital information assets, systems, and data based on their value and impact if compromised. This helps in allocating resources and focusing response efforts on the most crucial elements.

Deploy and configure security controls

Implement technical controls such as firewalls, intrusion detection/prevention systems (IDS/IPS), endpoint detection and response (EDR) tools, security information and event management (SIEM) systems, and data loss prevention (DLP) tools. Ensure these tools are properly configured and regularly updated.

Conduct regular testing and exercises

Perform tabletop exercises, simulations, and live drills to test the IRP’s effectiveness, identify gaps, and refine procedures. These exercises help the team practice their roles and responsibilities under simulated pressure, improving readiness.

Maintain current backups

Ensure regular and verifiable backups of critical data and system configurations are performed and stored securely, allowing for swift restoration if systems are compromised or destroyed.

Detection and analysis

Detection and analysis involve identifying and thoroughly understanding the nature, scope, and impact of a security incident. This phase is critical for quickly recognizing a breach and gathering sufficient information to inform subsequent response actions.

Tips for effective detection and analysis include the following:

Monitor systems and network traffic

Continuously monitor security logs, network traffic patterns, system behavior, and user activities for anomalies or indicators of compromise (IOCs) using SIEMs, IDS/IPS, and other monitoring tools.

Establish robust alerting mechanisms

Configure automated alerts for suspicious activities or predefined security thresholds, ensuring that the IRT is promptly notified of potential incidents. Prioritize alerts based on severity and potential impact.

Perform initial assessment and triage

Quickly determine the scope, severity, and potential impact of a detected event. This involves categorizing the incident, assessing the systems affected, and estimating the potential data compromised.

Gather and preserve evidence

Collect forensic evidence from affected systems, network devices, and logs in a forensically sound manner. Ensure the chain of custody is maintained to preserve the integrity and admissibility of evidence for potential legal or investigative purposes.

Conduct root cause analysis

Investigate the underlying cause of the incident to understand how the breach occurred and identify vulnerabilities exploited. This analysis is crucial for preventing similar incidents in the future.

Prioritize incidents

Based on the assessment of impact, urgency, and affected assets, prioritize incidents to ensure that the most critical threats are addressed first, allocating resources efficiently.

Containment and eradication

Containment and eradication focus on limiting the damage caused by a security incident and completely removing the threat from the environment. This phase aims to stop the spread of the attack and eliminate its presence.

Tips for successful containment and eradication include the following:

Implement short-term containment strategies

Isolate affected systems, segment networks, or temporarily disable compromised services to prevent further damage or spread of the incident. This immediate action aims to stop the bleeding.

Execute long-term containment actions

Develop and implement more permanent solutions, such as rebuilding compromised systems from trusted sources, applying extensive vulnerability patches, and improving network security architecture to prevent re-infection.

Identify and assess compromised systems

Accurately identify all systems, accounts, and data that have been affected by the incident. This helps determine the full extent of the compromise and ensures no infected systems are overlooked.

Thoroughly eliminate the threat

Remove all traces of the attacker and malicious components. This includes deleting malware, revoking compromised credentials, resetting passwords, closing unauthorized access points, and patching exploited vulnerabilities.

Harden systems to prevent re-infection

After eradication, strengthen security configurations on affected and potentially vulnerable systems. This might involve updating software, applying security patches, reconfiguring firewalls, and implementing stronger access controls.

Recovery

Recovery involves restoring affected systems and services to their normal operational status. This phase focuses on bringing the business back online safely and efficiently, ensuring data integrity and system availability.

Tips for a smooth recovery include the following:

Restore from trusted backups

Utilize verified and clean backups to restore data and systems, ensuring that restored assets are free from malware or persistent threats. Prioritize the restoration of critical business functions.

Validate system integrity and functionality

After restoration, thoroughly test all recovered systems and applications to ensure they are fully functional, secure, and free from any remaining vulnerabilities or malicious code.

Monitor for recurrence

Implement heightened monitoring of recovered systems and networks to detect any signs of renewed malicious activity. This vigilance helps confirm the eradication was successful and identifies any lingering threats.

Gradually reintroduce services

Rather than bringing all systems back online at once, reintroduce services incrementally. This allows for controlled monitoring and provides an opportunity to address any unforeseen issues before full operational capacity is restored.

Communicate recovery progress

Keep relevant stakeholders informed about the recovery status, timelines, and any potential service disruptions. Transparent communication helps manage expectations and rebuild trust.

Post-incident activities

Post-incident activities are crucial for learning from the incident and enhancing future cybersecurity posture. This phase involves a thorough review of the incident response process to identify areas for improvement.

Tips for effective post-incident activities include the following:

Conduct a lessons learned review

Facilitate a comprehensive debriefing session with the IRT and relevant stakeholders. Analyze what worked well, what did not, and what improvements are needed in policies, procedures, and technical controls. Document all findings and recommendations.

Thoroughly document the incident

Create a detailed record of the entire incident, from initial detection to final recovery. This documentation should include timelines, actions taken, evidence collected, decisions made, and their outcomes. This serves as a valuable reference for future incidents and compliance.

Update policies, procedures, and controls

Based on the lessons learned, revise existing incident response plans, security policies, and technical controls. Implement new procedures or adjust old ones to address identified gaps and strengthen defenses against similar future threats.

Address residual vulnerabilities

Identify and remediate any remaining vulnerabilities that contributed to the incident or were discovered during the response. This may involve system patching, configuration changes, or implementing new security technologies.

Calculate incident costs and impact

Quantify the financial and reputational impact of the incident, including direct costs (e.g., recovery efforts, forensic services), indirect costs (e.g., lost productivity, reputational damage), and regulatory fines. This helps justify future security investments.

An IRP is a comprehensive, living document tailored to an organization’s unique technological infrastructure, risk profile, and regulatory obligations. It details specific procedures, roles, and communication strategies for managing cybersecurity incidents. In some ways it can be viewed as an actionable blueprint, dictating precise steps for detection, containment, eradication, recovery, and post-incident analysis.

Conversely, an IRP template is a foundational framework or guide, offering a structured outline with pre-defined sections and common considerations.

Organizations should leverage an IRP template as a starting point, recognizing that while they provide valuable organizational structure and ensure critical areas aren’t overlooked, the specifics within each section—such as asset inventories, communication trees, escalation paths, and technical procedures—need be customized to an organization’s unique environment, technology stack, business processes, and specific risk.

Doing this can transform a general template into an actionable, effective IRP, capable of guiding the organization through real-world security incidents.

IRP templates are crucial for organizations of all sizes because they provide a standardized, proactive framework for managing cybersecurity breaches while allowing organizations to tailor it to their environments. Instead of scrambling to react in the chaos of an attack, a well-defined template ensures that teams adhere to clear roles, responsibilities, and procedures, from initial detection and analysis to containment, eradication, recovery, and post-incident review.

This structured approach minimizes the potential damage, reduces downtime, and expedites the recovery process, ultimately safeguarding critical assets, maintaining business continuity, and preserving an organization’s reputation.

These templates facilitate consistent and effective responses, allow for continuous improvement based on individual environments and lessons learned while also helping to meet regulatory compliance requirements.

The true effectiveness of an IRP template hinges on the effort an organization invests. It’s not enough to simply download a generic template; organizations must identify and document the specifics pertaining to their unique environment and personnel. This involves detailing their systems, applications, data flows, communication channels, and the roles and responsibilities of their teams.

To truly refine this blueprint and expose any potential gaps, readiness exercises must be conducted regularly. These simulations allow teams to practice their roles, test procedures, and hone their response capabilities, transforming a static document into a dynamic and effective defense mechanism.