Foreword: Why is cybersecurity incident response processing important to enterprises?
Today's daily operations of enterprises are increasingly dependent on various digital systems. However, this reliance has also intensified cybersecurity threats, including data leaks, system intrusions, malware attacks, denial of service attacks and other types of cybersecurity incidents, which have become an issue faced by enterprises. These challenges have become major concerns for enterprises.
These incidents may not only lead to a large amount of sensitive data and business confidential information leakage, but may also significantly affect the company's financial status, brand image, and normal operations.
Effective cybersecurity incident response processing is not only a necessary means to respond to emergencies, but also the key to protecting corporate digital assets and maintaining customers’ trust. Enterprises need to have the ability to respond quickly and handle cybersecurity incidents in order to remain invincible in a highly competitive market.
This article provides a comprehensive introduction to key aspects of emergency response to cybersecurity incidents, covering everything from fundamental concepts to practical procedures.
What is a cybersecurity incident?
A cybersecurity incident refers to any behavior or event that poses a threat to the cyber’s security. These events may lead to data leakage, service interruption, or system damage. Common security incidents include:
- Data Leakage: Sensitive data (such as personal information, financial information) is obtained by unauthorized third parties.
- System Intrusion: Hackers take advantage of vulnerabilities or use social engineering methods to gain control of the system.
- Malware attacks: Such as viruses, worms, ransomware, etc. These software can damage the system or steal information.
- Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS): A large amount of traffic paralyzes the target system, making it unable to operate normally.
For more explanation, please refer to: What is a cybersecurity incident? How to deal with it?
Basic steps for handling cybersecurity incidents
The following are the basic steps for handling a security incident. Each step requires detailed planning and preparation to ensure an effective response when an incident occurs.
1. Event detection
Incident detection is the first and most critical step in handling cybersecurity incidents. Timely detection of abnormal activities can significantly reduce the impact of security incidents. Using tools such as advanced Threat Intelligence Platform (Threat Intelligence Platform) and Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) solutions can help enterprises identify potential threats promptly. These tools automatically monitor network traffic and system activity, identify anomalous behavior, and raise alerts.
2. Event classification
Once a potential security incident is detected, the next step is to classify the incident. This includes determining the type of incident (e.g. data breach, system intrusion, malware attack, etc.) and severity. The purpose of incident triage is to determine response strategies and resource allocation to ensure that the most serious incidents are dealt with first.
3. Incident containment
The purpose of incident containment is to limit the scope of impact of a security incident and prevent the situation from deteriorating further. Depending on the type and severity of the incident, the following actions can be taken:
- Isolate Infected System: Disconnect the infected system from the network to prevent the spread of malware.
- Block Suspicious Traffic: Use firewalls and intrusion prevention systems (IPS) to block suspicious network traffic.
- Turn off affected services: Temporarily shutdown affected applications or services to reduce risk.
4. Incident Investigation
After the incident is initially contained, it needs to be investigated in detail. The purpose of the investigation is to determine the source, pathway, and scope of the incident. This includes:
- Analyze logs and data: Examine system logs, network traffic records, and other relevant data to identify attacker behavior and tools being used.
- Interview with relevant personnel: Interview with administrators and users of the affected system to understand the circumstances surrounding the incident.
- Collect evidence: Preserve relevant evidence for legal prosecution or further analysis if necessary.
5. Event recovery
Once the incident investigation is completed, the next step is to restore the affected systems and data. This includes:
- Repair Broken System: Reinstall or repair affected operating systems and applications.
- Restore Data: Recover deleted or damaged data from backup to ensure data integrity.
- Vulnerability Patching: Ensure that all known vulnerabilities are patched to prevent similar incidents from happening again.
6. Incident Report
After the incident is recovered, the entire incident handling process needs to be recorded in detail and reported to the relevant departments or regulatory agencies. Incident reports should include the following:
- Event Description: Briefly describe the process and type of the event.
- Process: Detailed documentation of each step of incident detection, classification, containment, investigation and recovery.
- Impact Assessment: Evaluate the impact of an incident on business operations, data security, and customer trust.
- Improvement Suggestions: Suggestions for improving security measures and contingency plans to prevent similar incidents from happening again.
7. Post-mortem analysis
Finally, conduct post-incident analysis (Post-Incident Analysis). Summarize experiences and lessons, and improve security strategies and response plans. This includes:
- Review the event handling process: Examine the entire event handling process to identify successes and mistakes.
- Update contingency plan: Update and improve the contingency plan based on the results of post-mortem analysis.
- Training and Drills: Train employees to improve their ability to respond to cybersecurity incidents, and conduct regular simulation exercises to test the effectiveness of the contingency plan.
Practical case sharing
Based on more than two decades of experience in responding to cybersecurity incidents, Dupu Digital Security TeamT5 has screened the recent cybersecurity incidents that have caused the greatest harm to the enterprise and explained the response methods.
Cases are as follows:
In an increasingly severe cybersecurity environment, enterprises can cooperate with outsourced cybersecurity incident response teams to effectively protect themselves from cybersecurity incidents.
Contact us for more information.