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5 Advantages
of an Incident Response Plan to Your Cyber Security
You or your company stand to gain several key cyber security advantages when you perform incident response planning.
1
An Incident Response Plan Puts Your Organization in a
Cyber Security Preparation Mindset
In the 2016 Cyber Resilient Organization study by the Ponemon Institute for IBM, 75% of IT and security professionals admit to not having a formal incident response plan or at least updating the ones they have.
If this result hints at anything, it is the false perception among a majority of practitioners that their organization cannot and will not be the target of a cyber security attack. This type of thinking will seed security flaws in your information technology system. When you create a formal incident response plan, you are sending a message that you are serious about your cyber security and everyone in your organization should follow suit.
2
An Incident Response Plan Can Help You Avoid Disorganization
in the Worst Cyber Security Scenarios
Disorganization can compound the cyber security damage to your data and your company when a data breach happens. The detailed guidelines in an IRP can stanch the bleeding by giving sets of detailed steps for meeting the cyber security challenge. This way security personnel can effectively implement calculated solutions in every stage of the attack.
3
An Incident Response Plan Can Help You Cut Your
Cyber Security Losses
In the same Cyber Resilient Organization survey, 66% of the respondents also admit that their organizations do not have plans to recover from cyber security breaches. Considering the kind of impact data breaches have, your team must be prepared to perform damage control on so many levels. Again, a clear plan will help your company recover faster.
4
An Incident Response Plan Can Weed Out Weaknesses in
Your Cyber Security Protocols
When you draft an incident response plan, you will have to review every process in your information system architecture. But this time, you will be thinking of how cyber criminals can take advantage of security design flaws in every step. This planning process can reveal what vulnerabilities are in your system and therefore help you upgrade your cyber security processes.
5
Incident Response Plans Protect Your Clients and
Your Reputation
Ultimately, the end goal of any cyber security tool like an IRP is to protect your customers' data and consequently, your brand. The loss of customer trust will destroy a company's revenue. Companies should learn from the Equifax breach. The breach cost the institution $27.3 million in the beginning stages of the aftermath and up to $110 million for damage control. However Equifax's costs will balloon due to 240 class action lawsuits from consumers, an unknown number of cases filed by banks and shareholders, plus the possible loss of business from financial institutions.