Cyber Incident Response – Don’t Fail to Plan

The worst time to figure out what you are going to do about an incident is in the middle of the incident – cyber or physical. From fire drills to business continuity exercises, it has become standard practice for organizations to develop and drill on physical incident plans. Conversely, few organizations develop and practice cyber incident response plans, despite the endless barrage of cyber attacks. Organizations with an effective cyber incident response plan will limit damage and reduce recovery time and costs of a cyber incident or attack. Nevertheless, research indicates incident response plans are underutilized. A recent article published by Threatpost enumerates seven recommendations for a typical cyber incident response plan. The suggestions in the post could be used as a starting point and tailored to each utility’s processes and procedures. Another great resource for cyber incident response planning for water and wastewater utilities is the EPA Cybersecurity Incident Action Checklist. Check out the seven steps for a cyber incident response plan at Threatpost.