INCIDENT RESPONSE

Ensure you’re equipped with the necessary skills and preparedness to respond to cyber incidents.

Incident Response Overview

While many organisations are equipped with tools and resources that are capable of resolving common IT cyber incidents, the same cannot always be said for cyber incidents that impact their OT environments. Unfortunately, too many organisations fail to plan for that worst day. Often stating: It can’t happen to us, we are too busy, or our vendors and suppliers will respond if we need them. This reactive-only mindset often results in a far worse outcome should a cyber incident occur.

As digital transformation continues to drive OT/IT convergence, connectivity and technology in these once-separate domains have become more integrated and sophisticated. Although these advancements bring many improvements that drive business advancement and efficiencies, they also bring increased risk exposure from IT across to OT, and vice-versa. With this in mind, having the capability to provide a coordinated and effective response to cyber threats across an entire business becomes increasingly essential.

The above situation has seen the creation of joint IT/OT Cyber Incident Response Plans (CIRP), that aim to ensure an organisation is equipped with the necessary skills and preparedness to respond to cyber threats that arise throughout all their technological environments. This is good progress and a positive step forward for industries, however, the general reality is that this proactive approach is still far and few between with many organisations unprepared to deal with cyber incidents that could impact their live OT environments. The consequences of not having a defined and coordinated incident response could result in prolonged shutdowns, safety and environmental impacts, and reputational damage.

Why Define an OT Incident Response Process?

When cyber-attacks target Operational Technology (OT) assets, prolonged downtime can severely impact a company’s financials and pose immediate threats to health, human safety, and the environment. Quick detection, response, and recovery from attacks are critical elements of OT cyber security risk management.

Incident response often gets addressed last in OT cyber security programs, but it should be a top priority. An outcome-focused cyber security approach helps organizations understand real-world scenarios and their potential impact on business operations, such as ransomware attacks. This understanding guides the implementation of effective remedial controls, rather than controls that are irrelevant and only satisfy compliance requirements.

Key Benefits of an OT Incident Response Process

Quicker Mitigation: Defined pre-planned steps minimize response time, reducing the potential damage caused by an attacker.
Organized Approach: A proactive OT Incident Response plan provides a clear and methodical plan of action during critical times.
Strengthened Security: Developing an OT Incident Response plan involves analyzing current measures, OT assets, weaknesses, and vulnerabilities, resulting in a better understanding of overall security.
Builds Trust: Customers, partners, and stakeholders prefer organizations with effective OT Incident Response plans, as it demonstrates proactive risk management.
Compliance: Regulatory requirements mandate measures for cyber risk management, especially in critical infrastructure sectors like energy, water, and waste utilities.

Seven Phases of Incident Response in OT Security

Preparation: Establish proactive measures and resources, form an incident response team, define roles and responsibilities, and implement necessary security controls.
Identification: Detect and identify signs of a security incident within the OT environment through continuous monitoring and analysis.
Containment: Take immediate actions to limit the scope and impact of the incident by isolating affected systems or network segments.
Eradication: Eliminate the root cause of the incident by removing malicious entities, patching vulnerabilities, and restoring systems to a known good state.
Recovery: Restore affected systems, services, and data to normal operations through backups, system reconfiguration, and additional security measures to prevent recurrence.
Lessons Learned: Analyze the incident response process to identify areas for improvement, document lessons learned, and enhance future response capabilities.
Review and Continuous Improvement: Regularly update incident response plans, procedures, and training based on past incidents and evolving threats, ensuring ongoing readiness.

Deliverables from Our OT Incident Response Service

Our service typically includes:

Reviewing existing incident response policies, procedures, network architectures, system configurations, and asset inventories.
Interviewing key stakeholders and personnel to clarify roles and responsibilities.
Preparing staff responsible for OT security with real-world incident scenarios, simulations, and exercises to enact swift response measures.
Providing remote support, next steps, and reporting guidance in the event of an immediate incident.

By defining and adhering to a robust OT Incident Response process, organizations can minimize the impact of security incidents, maintain operational continuity, and protect critical assets and operations.

What are the Fundamental 6 Steps of Incident Response?

In some references, there are seven phases of incident response which we have already covered. Some other references have listed the following 6 phases:

Step #1: Preparation.
Step #2: Identification.
Step #3: Containment.
Step #4: Eradication.
Step #5: Recovery.
Step #6: Lessons Learned.

What is an Incident Response Plan?

An incident response plan is a set of actions and procedures that outlines an organisation’s response to security incidents. An incident response plan is designed to facilitate timely and effective incident mitigation by making it clear what steps should be taken and by whom.

Why is it Important to Have an Incident Response Plan in Place?

For a cyber risk management strategy to be effective, it should include a comprehensive incident response strategy to help businesses:

Know how to handle cybersecurity incidents,
Minimise the incidents impact when they occur, and
Strengthen their defences against future incidents.

What Do I Need to Consider When Developing an Incident Response Plan?

Although incident response planning may seem like a daunting task, there are a couple of key considerations you should keep in mind to facilitate drafting (or updating) your incident response plan.

Document your incident response strategy in writing.
Test your incident response plan.
Review your incident response plan regularly.
Set up an incident response team.

What Does an Incident Response Team Do?

The goal of the Incident Response Team is to minimise the impact of incidents on the business. This includes minimising the time it takes to resolve an incident, the financial impact of an incident, and the reputation damage that can occur as a result of an incident.

What Does an Incident Response Plan Typically Include?

The organisation’s incident response strategy and how it supports business objectives;
Roles and responsibilities involved in incident response;
Procedures for each phase of the incident response process;
Communication procedures within the incident response team, with the rest of the organisation, and external stakeholders;
How to learn from previous incidents to improve the organisation’s security posture.