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"contents": "Subscribe \u00d7 EXPEL BLOG A cheat sheet for managing your next security incident Tips \u00b7 5 MIN READ \u00b7 BRUCE POTTER \u00b7 AUG 24, 2017 \u00b7 TAGS: Planning / Security Incident Surviving the unexpected. On the face of it, security is pretty straightforward. We\u2019re operating in one of two modes. In Mode A we\u2019re focused on keeping evildoers at bay (and other generally bad things from happening). In Mode B the bad things have happened and we\u2019re doing the best we can to manage them. For most people A > B. But we don\u2019t get to choose when the bad guys show up. When they do , we\u2019re often out of practice because we have so much less experience responding to attacks than we do preparing for them. In a perfect world, there\u2019s a comprehensive incident response plan that involves legal, communications, the board, and technical response processes. In an even more perfect world, you\u2019ve put that plan through a table-top exercise, refined it based on your learnings, and drilled it to the point of muscle memory. But few of us live in that perfect world. That\u2019s OK. All is not lost. If you haven\u2019t yet got that perfect incident plan in place you can still make the best of a bad situation and manage your organization back on level ground. Here are six things I recommend. 1. Control your emotions and the velocity First and foremost, it\u2019s important not to freak out. Your job is to manage the incident in front of you and return the organization to \u201cnormal.\u201d Letting your emotions get the better of you will just get in the way of reaching that goal. It may be difficult to settle your emotions, but there are ways to help. First, get organized by putting a set of facts and tasks together to help you focus on the event at hand rather than the emotions surrounding it . Also, take care of yourself. Eat. Rest. Don\u2019t be afraid to take a step back (or a walk around the block) once in a while. It will help you maintain perspective and control your emotions. Pace of response is also important. You need to drive response activities but \u2013 like Icarus \u2013 you\u2019ll only be successful if you stay away from the extremes. Move too fast and you\u2019ll have wasted work, missed opportunities and poor decisions that could make you look like the Keystone Cops . Move too slowly, and you\u2019ll jeopardize the integrity of your organization as attackers continue to have access and do damage. There\u2019s no clear rule of thumb here, but as each meeting goes by and each day passes, make sure you\u2019re thinking about the velocity of activities and adjust tasking appropriately. 2. Build a team and assign roles You can\u2019t respond to an incident all by yourself. No matter how big or small your organization is, you need help. Build a team that\u2019s appropriate for the response and assign everyone discrete roles. Without roles, you\u2019ll have people stepping on each other\u2019s toes and gaps where there should be work. You\u2019ll want to engage legal, communications, key executives, IT leaders and technical staff. Make sure each person knows what they\u2019re expected to do, the level of effort and the need for confidentiality. But be careful. Don\u2019t bring in too many people \u2013 especially if you\u2019re dealing with an insider incident. Controlling information gets harder as more people get involved. So, think carefully about who you involve when insiders are involved. 3. Communication is key Regular meetings are important to keep everyone on the same page. You\u2019ll be bringing together individuals from across the organization. They don\u2019t normally work together and they won\u2019t be familiar with each other\u2019s communication styles or skills. By meeting at least once or twice a day, you\u2019ll help the team integrate rapidly and ensure your response activity doesn\u2019t suffer from lack of information sharing. And while internal communication is critical, make sure you\u2019re also looking beyond your own four walls to your customers, vendors, board, and the public at large. Controlling the message while an incident is unfolding is difficult. And it shouldn\u2019t be your responsibility \u2013 not just because you\u2019re busy, but because you are probably not good at it. Being transparent but also communicating facts externally in a way that is consistent with your brand is complicated. Educate your communications staff about the incident and hold them accountable to message with the appropriate parties. 4. Don\u2019t jump to conclusions Nothing is worse than a public statement about an incident that later has to be completely changed because an organization made an assumption during an incident that turns out to be false. I was once pulled away from a vacation with my family because my corporate website was \u201cunder attack\u201d according to our network operations center. We spent half a day working with that hypothesis, trying to shore up our DDoS defenses and control traffic. When we actually stepped back and looked at the facts, we discovered our marketing department had launched a new ad campaign without telling IT. It was swamping us with new users. Within a few minutes, we contacted marketing and had them turn the dial down to levels our infrastructure could handle. Deal with the facts you have, not the facts you want or the assumptions you brought to the table. Jumping to conclusions without sufficient facts damages your creditability with stakeholders. More important, it can lead to poor assignment of resources and cause greater harm to your organization as attackers are allowed continued room to operate. 5. Save the post-mortem for the actual \u201cpost\u201d While you\u2019re figuring out \u201cwhat\u201d happened, it\u2019s often easy to drift into thinking about \u201cwhy\u201d it happened. Assigning blame and tracking down the root cause of an incident may seem like a good idea, but it can inflame emotions and distract you from the task at hand. If you see your teammates diving into the \u201cwhy\u201d of the incident, remind them that the team will do a post-mortem after the incident and ask them to stay focused on their tasking. Usually, the promise of the post-mortem is enough to keep things on track. Then, once the incident is resolved, make sure you actually do the post-mortem analysis. Addressing the root cause of an event is important to the long-term integrity of your organization. Give everyone a few days to rest and deal with their normal job functions, but try to have a post-mortem meeting within a week after the event. 6. Start building a real incident response plan When the dust has settled, sit down with all your notes, emails, and random facts. Marvel that you were able to deal with such a complex situation with nothing but your wits and your skills. And vow to never, ever do it like that again. Creating a solid incident response plan will ensure that when things go wrong again (and they will go wrong) that your organization is better prepared to deal with the event. Did you notice something? None of these recommendations are overly technical. In my experience, when incident response goes wrong it\u2019s not because there wasn\u2019t competent technical staff. It\u2019s because there was no clear leadership for the staff to follow. \u2014 So today, while you\u2019re still working on your full incident response plan (and before anything bad has happened) let me offer a three-minute plan and a three-hour plan that will leave you better prepared to manage your organization the next time you face an incident. If you\u2019ve only got three minutes: get your phone out, make a list of the people across the organization that you\u2019ll need to work with if an incident happens and make sure you have them on speed dial. If you\u2019ve got three hours go a step further: set up meetings with each of them and tell them what their role would be if an incident ever arises. Trust me, the time you spend doing this will be paid back tenfold when that time is most valuable \u2013 during your next incident." |
