The last year has certainly shown businesses all around the world that they must be prepared for the unexpected. How they manage the unexpected is what separates those that sail through their challenges and those that let them significantly harm the institution. Being prepared starts with establishing an effective incident response program.
Why is incident response necessary?
Incident response is an organization’s systematic approach to managing an event or occurrence that may have a significant impact on operations via a human-induced threat (active assailant, terrorist attack, cyber compromise), a hybrid situation (pandemic, fire, power outage, industrial or transportation disaster), or a natural disaster (floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, wildfires, pandemics). The main concern for businesses is that relatively small incidents can escalate and become crises, an occurrence having or likely having a catastrophic impact on operations. Organizations typically seek to establish a robust incident response function to protect people, minimize damage to assets and operations, manage recovery costs, and resume operations as soon as possible.
One of the goals of an incident response plan is to prevent or mitigate the risk of an incident becoming a crisis. A well-exercised plan sets forth roles and responsibilities and instructs employees and business owners on immediate measures to protect people, assets, the environment, and the organization’s reputation. Planning for the worst from the start can often lead to more positive outcomes. To achieve optimal results, an effective incident response program should be straightforward and precise. Anyone reading the plan should be able to quickly determine what needs to be done, and who needs to do it. Then, we turn to using the tools we have at our disposal in the program.