Setting the Stage for Cyber Chaos 

In the first installment of our two-part webinar series, Nuspire’s Mike Pedrick, VP of Cybersecurity Consulting, and Chris Roberts, Chief Strategy Executive & Evangelist, took attendees on a journey through a simulated real-world cyber incident. The duo set the stage with a realistic ransomware attack scenario – an employee’s PC starts behaving strangely, displaying a dialog box stating their files have been encrypted and data has been exfiltrated. The user is unable to access any files, signaling a major incident is unfolding.  

“It’s triage,” Mike explained. “You take the bleeding, spewing artery first into the medic tent.” 

As the first minutes ticked by, Mike and Chris emphasized the importance of having a clear process to validate the incident, contain it, eradicate the source and proceed to recovery. Visibility into your environment is key to identifying what systems are impacted and prioritizing containment efforts. 

The Critical First 72 Hours 

Chris highlighted the critical nature of the first 12-24 hours, as the incident response team works heads down to keep the company alive while figuring out what happened. Meanwhile, leadership anxiously awaits answers on what occurred, what was lost and how to communicate it. Getting the communication right with validated information is essential. By the 72-hour mark, regulatory and fiduciary obligations come into play.  

Privacy legislation in many states requires notifying interested parties of the incident within this timeframe. The speakers cautioned that trying to hide the incident would only make things worse.  

“There’s blood in the water…somebody is ready to file a class action lawsuit against your organization,” warned Mike. 

Key Takeaways for Effective Incident Response 

Throughout the webinar, Mike and Chris shared several critical insights for navigating a cyber incident: 

• Have a clear, documented process for validating an incident, containing it, eradicating the source, and recovering. Ad hoc responses waste precious time. 
• Understand your environment and assets to quickly identify impacted systems and prioritize containment efforts. You can’t stop the bleeding if you don’t know where you’re hurt. 
• Establish a single source of truth with validated information to communicate effectively with leadership and external parties. Inconsistent messaging erodes trust. 
• Engage legal counsel, public relations, executives and potentially law enforcement by the 72-hour mark to address regulatory requirements and control the narrative. 
• Regularly rehearse your incident response plan with key stakeholders through tabletop exercises. Waiting until an actual incident is too late to figure out everyone’s roles and responsibilities. 
• Consider engaging outside experts to pressure test your incident response capabilities and guide you through the complexities of a significant cyber incident. 

By implementing these principles, organizations can bring order to the chaos of a cyberattack and emerge stronger on the other side. But preparation is paramount—the time to build cyber resilience is now, before the wheels come off. 

Watch the webinar replay 

Practice Makes Prepared 

Having a well-rehearsed incident response plan is crucial. Tabletop exercises help ensure everyone knows their role and can respond effectively when an incident strikes. 

“When the building is on fire, it is not the time to pick up the A to Z and start flicking through to see which one of your friends you can call,” Chris colorfully put it. 

Don’t get caught unprepared when cyber chaos hits. Nuspire’s Incident Response Readiness Service can help you proactively prepare. Our team of experts will work with you to develop a customized tabletop exercise to pressure test your ability to respond to a serious cyber incident. 

Ready to build your cyber resilience? 

Learn more about our Incident Response Readiness Service. 

The post Lessons Learned from Part 1 of Our Cyber Incident Response Webinar Series appeared first on Nuspire.

*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from Nuspire authored by Team Nuspire. Read the original post at: https://www.nuspire.com/blog/lessons-learned-from-part-1-of-our-cyber-incident-response-webinar-series/