What is Incident Management and Support and Why Is It Important for Your Business Continuity Plan?
Written By: Dan Hernandez
1. Introduction to Incident Management and Support
Incident management is a strategic approach to handling disruptions in your business operations. This may include dealing with security breaches, network outages, or data breaches. The goal of incident management is to restore normal service operations as quickly as possible, thereby minimizing the impact on business continuity.
Support services play a crucial role in incident management, as they assist in resolving incidents quickly and efficiently. This can include internal support teams like IT or human resources, or external resources like cybersecurity experts or professional computer support.
2. Understanding A Business Continuity Plan
Business continuity is the process of creating systems of prevention and recovery to deal with potential threats to a company. An effective business continuity plan (BCP) ensures that an organization can continue its essential business operations during a crisis, helping to prevent a complete shutdown in the event of a disaster.
Disruptions can range from a local incident like a power outage to a business-wide event like a cyberattack or ransomware attack. Ensuring your business continuity relies heavily on your organization's emergency management effectiveness, which includes elements like incident response plans, disaster recovery plans, and continuity plans.
3. The Role of Incident Management in Business Continuity
Incident management and support are vital components of any robust business continuity plan. When a security incident occurs, such as a data breach or a cybersecurity attack, an efficient incident management system will help your business react quickly and appropriately.
The first step involves identifying and analyzing the incident. Cybersecurity risks vary in nature and scale, from data breaches caused by phishing attacks to network disruptions due to ransomware attacks.
The second step involves responding to the incident. A well-thought-out response plan is crucial for minimizing damage, downtime, and financial losses. This includes communication plans to inform stakeholders and a contingency plan in place to ensure the continuity of vital business operations.
After the incident is contained, it's important to review and update the incident response and business continuity plans based on what was learned. This ongoing process helps businesses stay adaptable and prepared for future disruptions.
4. Successfully Developing an Incident Response Plan
An effective incident response plan is a crucial part of business continuity planning. It outlines the procedures that need to be followed when an incident occurs, from the initial discovery of the incident through to recovery procedures and processes. Here's how you can start developing your own:
1. Preparation: This involves conducting a risk assessment and identifying potential threats and vulnerabilities. Consider things like potential data breaches or disruptions due to a ransomware attack.
2. Detection: Establish protocols for detecting and reporting incidents. This could involve threat intelligence tools or regular network security checks.
3. Response: Formulate a response strategy for each identified threat. This can include appointing an incident response team, outlining communication strategies, and determining recovery strategies.
4. Recovery: Create a disaster recovery plan (DRP) that allows your business to restore operations as soon as possible after an incident. Consider backup and data protection strategies, such as having data centers or cloud services for business emails and employee files.
5. Lessons Learned: After an incident, review the effectiveness of your plan and make necessary updates. Ensure the plan is reviewed at least annually and tested at least twice a year.
5. Case Study: Incident Management in Practice
A mid-size retail company experienced a significant data breach that exposed customer credentials and disrupted its e-commerce operations. Thankfully, they had a robust incident management plan integrated into their business continuity strategy.
Upon detecting the security breach, their incident response teams swiftly reacted, containing the breach and assessing its impact. Their response plan was activated, which involved informing all stakeholders, including customers whose data might have been compromised. They also reached out to external resources, such as cybersecurity firms, for additional support.
While the IT team worked on containing the breach and securing the network, other teams executed their continuity plans, ensuring that essential business operations were minimally affected. The organization also had a contingency plan in place, which included a 'plan B' for their e-commerce operations. This allowed them to continue processing customer orders and limit financial losses.
Once the breach was contained and normal operations resumed, the incident was reviewed comprehensively. The business updated their security plan, improved their cybersecurity practices, and reinforced their commitment to data protection. This incident served as a learning experience, strengthening their resilience against future cyberattacks.
6. Conclusion
Effective incident management and support are fundamental to a robust business continuity plan. It helps organizations quickly react to disruptions, reduce potential downtime, and maintain essential business operations. Remember, in today's digital landscape, every business is at risk, but with a well-designed incident response plan, your organization can navigate through any disruptions and emerge stronger on the other side.
7. Frequently Asked Questions
What is incident management in business continuity?
Incident management in business continuity is the process of quickly responding to an incident to restore normal business operations and minimize disruption.
Why is an incident response plan important?
An incident response plan is crucial because it provides a clear strategy for managing disruptions and minimizing their impact on business operations.
What should an incident response plan include?
An incident response plan should include procedures for detecting, analyzing, containing, eradicating, and recovering from an incident. It should also include communication strategies to inform relevant stakeholders.
What is the role of support in incident management?
Support services assist in incident resolution, either by providing expertise, resources, or additional manpower to handle the incident.
How often should incident response and business continuity plans be reviewed? These plans should be reviewed at least annually and updated as necessary to account for changes in the business or threat landscape.
PCS is a world-class leader in protecting data & identity for businesses and non-profits. We provide a critical service to businesses and non-profits by managing cybersecurity risks, including ransomware, crypto walkers, phishing emails, and other evolving cyber crimes. See how IT services can benefit your company.
