In today’s world filled with disasters and threats, understanding what system threats are and preparing to handle unexpected events is critically important. Many organizations may already have a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) to maintain operations during crises, but one essential component is the Incident Response Plan (IRP), a set of procedures and guidelines for managing actual security incidents.
This article introduces what Incident Response is, its objectives, procedures, and the benefits it brings to organizations. It also provides guidance on how to build an effective plan to strengthen your organization’s Risk Management capabilities.
HIGHLIGHTS:
- Incident Response is a framework for responding to emergency events of all types whether natural disasters, factory accidents, pandemics, or cyber threats.
- The main objective of Incident Response is to minimize impact, restore operations, and prevent recurrence, enabling the organization to resume work as quickly as possible.
- Standard Incident Response procedures (e.g., ISO 22320 and FEMA ICS) typically include preparedness, event identification, containment, root cause elimination, recovery, and lessons learned/improvement.
- Having an Incident Response Plan helps protect lives and assets, reduce business losses, and build stakeholder confidence.
- InterRisk Asia supports organizations with comprehensive services from risk analysis and incident response planning to training and simulation exercises to build long-term resilience and stability.
What is Incident Response (IR)?
Incident Response (IR) is the process organizations use to identify, analyze, manage, and recover from events that impact business operations or information security. An Information Security Incident is something many organizations take seriously, including Cyber Security threats such as cyberattacks, data breaches, and IT system failures.
Objectives of Incident Response
Incident Response is not just about solving immediate problems, it also helps clarify how the organization plans to respond and what Incident Management entails, enabling long-term system improvement and prevention.
- Identify & Classify Incidents: Distinguish between minor threats and serious system threats, such as defining what constitutes a security incident.
- Minimize Impact: Reduce damage to data, assets, and the organization’s reputation.
- Recovery: Restore systems as quickly as possible without exceeding RTO and MTPD.
- Prevent Recurrence: Analyze root causes and improve systems to prevent future incidents.
- Assurance: Build confidence among customers, partners, and stakeholders that the organization can manage incidents effectively.
How Many Steps Are Involved in Incident Response?
An Incident Response Plan (IRP) is an “emergency manual” that provides teams with clear procedures, guiding them on what to do when an incident occurs and helping minimize its impact. An IRP can be designed to cover all types of incidents, such as fires, floods, earthquakes, power outages, cyberattacks, or factory accidents. International standards like ISO 22320:2018 and FEMA’s Incident Command System (ICS) recommend a structured approach that can be adapted to any situation. Generally, Incident Response consists of six key steps:
Step 1: Preparation
Organizations must develop contingency plans covering various scenarios; earthquakes, fires, floods, cyberattacks, and conduct BCP training. Necessary resources should be prepared, such as fire extinguishers, backup power systems, and employee action guides.
Step 2: Identification & Detection
Verify whether the event is a true incident, e.g., detecting smoke, flood alerts, or abnormal IT signals. A quick risk assessment is needed to determine severity.
Step 3: Initial Response
Take immediate action to contain the situation and limit impact, e.g., shutting off water valves, isolating fire zones, quarantining infected areas, or disabling compromised systems. The goal is to prevent escalation.
Step 4: Stabilization
Once contained, eliminate the root cause, e.g., extinguish fires, seal leaks, repair electrical lines, or remove malware. If the incident has widespread impact, crisis management may be required.
Step 5: Recovery
Restore systems or operations to normal, e.g., restart production lines, repair buildings, recover IT systems, and ensure no residual risks remain.
Step 6: Lessons Learned & Improvement
After the incident, conduct a post-incident review to identify lessons learned and improve future plans. This may include refining the IRP and updating the Business Continuity Management System (BCMS), along with additional training.
Benefit of Incident Response
Having a comprehensive Incident Response Plan (IRP) that covers various types of incidents enables organizations to respond systematically. Key benefits include:
Minimizing Business Disruption
Whether it’s a factory fire or an evacuation due to an earthquake at headquarters, an Incident Response Plan helps ensure business continuity within the timeframe defined through BIA analysis.
Enhancing Safety of Lives and Assets:
It’s not just about protecting data, it also includes safeguarding employees, resources, machinery, and infrastructure from emergencies like floods, fires, or chemical leaks.
Boosting Stakeholder Confidence
Customers, investors, and partners gain confidence when they see the organization has a plan to handle any incident, whether a major crisis or a natural disaster.
Supporting Legal and International Compliance
Standards such as ISO 22320 (Incident Management), ISO 22301 (BCMS), and the Sendai Framework by UNDRR require organizations to have comprehensive incident response systems for natural disasters, accidents, and cyber threats.
Reducing Economic Losses
Whether it’s repair costs after a flood or fines from a data breach, a fast and structured response significantly reduces financial impact.
Building a Resilient Organizational Culture
Employees know their roles and how to act during emergencies whether evacuating during a fire, working remotely during a pandemic, or switching to backup systems during IT outages.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is the most important aspect of preparing an Incident Response Plan?
The most important aspect is preparedness and regular drills, ensuring that when any incident occurs, whether fire, flood, or cyberattack, everyone knows their roles and responsibilities.
Who is primarily responsible for Incident Response?
It depends on the type of incident. For cyber threats, it’s usually the IT team. For fires, floods, or earthquakes, it may be the safety or facilities team. In major crises, a Crisis Management Team and senior executives are typically involved.
How is Incident Response different from BCP?
Incident Response is the immediate action taken to reduce the impact of an incident, while BCP focuses on long-term strategies to keep the business running.
How is Incident Response related to DRP?
DRP (Disaster Recovery Plan) focuses on restoring IT systems after a major incident. Incident Response is the initial step to control the situation, whether physical or cyber-related.
How often should Incident Response be practiced?
It is recommended to conduct drills at least 1–2 times per year, covering scenarios like fires, accidents, IT outages, and pandemics to ensure all situations are properly tested.
What types of incidents can Incident Response be used for?
It can be applied to all types of incidents, including natural disasters, factory accidents, health emergencies, cyberattacks, and organizational crises.
What tools or technologies are needed for Incident Response?
It depends on the incident, e.g., fire alarm systems, evacuation equipment, backup data centers, or cybersecurity monitoring tools.
What happens if an organization doesn’t have an Incident Response Plan?
The organization may respond slowly and face severe damage to lives, assets, operations, and reputation. Having an Incident Response Plan helps minimize these losses.
Who should be part of the Incident Response Team?
The team should be diverse, including safety, IT, HR, legal, communications, and executives, to effectively handle all types of incidents.
Can Incident Response be used for large-scale national events like pandemics or disasters?
Yes. Frameworks like ISO 22320 and FEMA ICS are designed to be applicable to all types of incidents from natural disasters to health and cyber crises.
Incident Response and Services from InterRisk Asia
Incident Response is a critical mechanism that enables organizations to handle all types of incidents whether natural disasters, accidents, fires, floods, disease outbreaks, or cyber threats. Having a comprehensive and regularly tested Incident Response Plan helps organizations control situations, minimize damage, and recover operations quickly.
InterRisk Asia, part of the MS&AD Insurance Group from Japan, is a trusted consulting firm specializing in Business Continuity Management (BCM). With extensive experience across various industries, InterRisk Asia offers end-to-end support, including: Risk assessment, Incident Response Plan development tailored to your business, Emergency response training and simulation exercises.
Experienced consultants with hands-on BCMS expertise
Customized planning tailored to your business context.
Practical tools and templates, with expert support for testing and improvement.
