Incident response explanation
Incident response is the coordinated set of actions an organization takes after a security threat, breach, or cyberattack is detected. The goal of incident response is to limit impact, preserve evidence, restore affected systems, and reduce the likelihood of similar incidents happening again.
Effective incident response requires more than technical fixes. It depends on clear roles, documented procedures, reliable communication, and executive decision-making under pressure.
Most organizations structure incident response as a lifecycle rather than a one-time activity.
The incident response lifecycle
Incident response typically follows five core phases:
Preparation
Establish policies, tools, access controls, monitoring, and response plans before an incident occurs.
Detection and analysis
Identify suspicious activity, confirm whether an incident is occurring, and determine scope and severity — all of which directly impact mean time to detect (MTTD) and overall incident impact.
Containment
Limit the spread of the incident by isolating affected systems, accounts, or networks.
Eradication and recovery
Remove the root cause, restore systems, validate security, and return operations to normal.
Post-incident review
Document what happened, identify gaps, and improve controls, processes, and training. This lifecycle helps teams respond quickly while maintaining consistency and accountability.
Key components of the incident response process
A mature incident response process includes several interconnected capabilities:
- High-level incident management and coordination to direct response efforts and align teams.
- Technical analysis and investigation, including forensic analysis and log review.
- Incident scoping to understand which systems, users, and data are affected.
- Crisis communications to manage internal and external messaging.
- Legal and regulatory response to address compliance, reporting, and notification obligations.
- Remediation and mitigation actions to restore systems and reduce future risk
Each component supports the others, ensuring decisions are based on accurate information and executed efficiently.
Who are the key players on an incident response team?
Incident response teams vary by organization, but successful response depends on clearly defined responsibilities.
Incident management
The incident manager (sometimes called the incident commander) oversees the response, prioritizes actions, and ensures communication flows between teams and stakeholders.
Security operations and detection
Security operations teams or SOC analysts are often the first to identify suspicious activity and escalate incidents for investigation.
Enterprise incident investigation
Investigation teams analyze telemetry, systems, and environments to identify indicators of compromise (IOCs) and determine how the incident occurred — a core function of digital forensics and incident response (DFIR).
Technical analysis
Specialists may focus on malware analysis, forensic analysis, network analysis, or endpoint analysis, depending on the nature of the incident.
Incident scoping
Scoping determines the breadth and depth of impact, including affected assets, users, and data. Scope often evolves as investigations continue.
Crisis communications
Communications teams manage messaging to employees, customers, partners, regulators, and executives to ensure accuracy and consistency.
Legal and regulatory stakeholders
Legal teams assess regulatory obligations, contractual requirements, and potential liabilities associated with the incident.
Executive decision-making
Executive leadership provides strategic direction, approves major decisions, and evaluates business risk throughout the response.
What is an incident response plan?
An incident response plan is a documented guide that outlines how an organization will handle security incidents. While the incident response process describes what happens, the incident response plan defines how it happens in practice.
A strong incident response plan typically includes:
- Roles and responsibilities.
- Escalation paths and decision authority.
- Communication procedures.
- Technical response steps and playbooks.
- Legal and regulatory considerations.
- Testing and review schedules.
Incident response plans should be tested regularly through simulations and tabletop exercises so teams can respond quickly under real-world conditions.
What are managed incident response services?
Managed incident response services are provided by external security specialists who support or lead response activities during a security incident. These services help organizations that lack in-house expertise, scale, or 24/7 coverage.
Organizations may use managed incident response services to:
- Prepare response plans and run tabletop exercises.
- Conduct compromise assessments and breach readiness reviews.
- Support detection, investigation, and containment during active incidents.
- Provide incident response retainers for rapid access to expertise.
Managed incident response services can complement internal teams by adding experience, speed, and specialized skills when incidents occur.
The post-incident review
The post-incident review, sometimes called a post-mortem or lessons-learned phase, occurs after containment and recovery are complete.
The purpose of the post-incident review is to understand what happened, why it happened, and how similar incidents can be prevented. This phase often includes:
- Timeline reconstruction.
- Root cause analysis.
- Evaluation of response effectiveness.
- Identification of tooling, process, or training gaps.
Insights from post-incident reviews help organizations improve detection, reduce response time, and strengthen overall security posture.