Everything you need to know about Incident Response Training

Incident response training is essential for every organization because even the best defenses can be breached. It’s vital that your cyber incident response team (CIRT) be alert and up-to-date on the latest cyber threats and security techniques, and the incident response training and simulation program is the most effective way to achieve this.

Truth be told, organizations do not encounter severe cyberattacks daily. Many SOC operators and incident responders may spend weeks responding to straightforward cyber incidents without a major cyberattack. But severe attacks are happening more and more, particularly as our interconnectivity grows. Now more than ever, it is important to be prepared.

Who is an Incident Responder? What are their duties and responsibilities?

The job responsibility of a cyber incident responder can vary from one organization or employer to the next. Based on the NIST Cybersecurity Workforce Framework outlined in NIST Special Publication 800-181, the following are the general duties and responsibilities of an incident response analyst:

◉ Investigate and report on cybersecurity issues and trends.

◉ Conduct forensic collections, threat analysis and intrusion correlation, as well as track direct system remediation as incidents occur.

◉ Offer constant examination of possible incidents and threats, and train shareholders and workers.

◉ Evaluate incidents in terms of urgency, possibilities and potential impacts, as well as organize and improve remediation tasks.

◉ Manage business cyber-defense incident response endeavors.

◉ Employ incident data to detect exposures and recommend speedy remediation.

◉ Evaluate logs to trace and remediate likely network security risks.

◉ Function as a technical liaison with law enforcement to provide incident particulars as required.

What Is an Incident Response Plan?

An incident response plan is a set of standards that assist a certified incident handler or incident response analyst in identifying, responding to, mitigating and recovering an organization’s data from cybersecurity incidents. Cybersecurity plans address issues such as cybercrime, reputation damage, data loss and service outages that endanger day-to-day office activities. It is vital for a business to have a well-defined incident response process to alleviate the likelihood of falling victim to the latest cyberattacks and severe security breaches,

Having a detailed incident response plan is effective cyber hygiene, allowing you to analyze your systems and networks for possible weaknesses and implement the latest cybersecurity best practices. An adequate incident response plan provides you with a practicable course of action for both severe and simple incidents that could otherwise affect your organization for weeks or months to come.

When major cybersecurity incidents occur, your organization will draft a comprehensive incident response plan, so your CIRT can contain, eradicate, and recover from the incident more quickly and efficiently. In cases where physical disruptors occur, including flooding and other natural disasters, a disaster recovery plan is needed.

How Do I Become an Incident Responder?

You may be wondering what does it take to become an incident responder (if you aren’t already, of course)? Incident responders are greatly needed within the industry. With the growth of hacking and other cybercrime regularly targeted at organizations, more CIRTs are busy with incident handling, responding to cyberattacks, and prioritizing responses. These IT professionals are trained in assessing and successfully responding to cyberattacks to minimize damages to their employers.

If you are interested in information security and love the thrill of technical challenges, you might be a great candidate to learn to become an incident responder. But it’s about more than passion, security incident response also takes deft skills, which can be gained via incident response training. With a current shortage of skills in the lucrative cybersecurity field, it is time to become a certified security incident responder.

According to a recent article by Forbes, many of the half-million cybersecurity job openings go unfilled, partly because college computer science graduates often lack skills and hands-on experience needed for the job. The article suggests that certification programs and internships are vital pathways to fulfilling careers in cybersecurity, as most of the available positions require technical knowledge and expertise.

Steps to Become an Incident Response Analyst

You will need a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in cybersecurity, computer forensics, or related field, and you may also be required to become certified. Many experts in cybersecurity acquire their incident response training by earning the appropriate professional certifications, including certified intrusion analyst, certified incident handler, or certified forensic analyst. Regardless of requirements for your cybersecurity educational program, most incident responder professions necessitate one or more of these certifications, which may differ based on the industry, the position, or the employer.

The majority of incident responder positions also require a minimum of 2-3 years of relevant work experience in sectors such as network administration, computer forensics and cybersecurity. You may take online courses, obtain training, or attend boot camps to boost your resume. Earning cybersecurity incident response training can assist you in qualifying for a role with the CSIR teams, by learning from CSIRT leaders and other cybersecurity experts.

Why is security incident response training important?

An incident is any disruption of security measures or policies of an organization, which compromises or tries to compromise the organization’s integrity, privacy, or availability of information (also known as CIA triangle). Incident response training is a program designed to educate IT professionals and members of the CIRT on preparing to handle and respond to security incidents in real-world scenarios. Getting certified ensures that you as a professional will receive hands-on learning delivered through learning labs and core curricula training that is mapped to and in compliance with government and industry-published incident and response frameworks.

Most large organizations spend huge amounts and time authenticating the efficiency of their security controls and formulating a cyber incident plan, however only a few actually spend enough time training their staff on how to tackle an incident when it occurs. The penalties of not having a well-trained incident responder could range from loss of sensitive data, business downtime, expensive fines, to a bad reputation and loss of consumer trust. Whether you are an IT professional, IT and cybersecurity team leader, cybersecurity professional (entry to senior-level), cybersecurity enthusiast (entry-level), small-mid enterprise leaders, or mid-large enterprise leaders, whenever you invest in incident training you make intelligent use of resources. Without training, bear in mind that:

◉ You may not be conversant with the new threat and may not know how to defend your organization.

◉ Your lack of knowledge may be detrimental to your organization since human errors are mostly responsible for security incidents.

◉ Most incidents can be avoided and mitigated.

◉ Even those who are renowned experts in the incident response field may sometimes have lapses when handling incidents and need further incident response training.

◉ You may not have the money to employ a security consultant, incident response analyst, or CIRT, nor the time to afford satisfactory preventive defenses. However, with well-defined incident response training, you eliminate undue costs and invest in your knowledge or the knowledge of your staff.

Source: eccouncil.org