Prevent It or Respond Better?

About this interactive

The lesson's follow-up comes down to two questions. First: what was the cause, and what safeguards stop it happening again? That means a full root cause analysis, then corrective actions that are actually scheduled and done, such as fixing the code, replacing the faulty part or closing the way in. These cut the number of incidents. Second: how can we respond better? How did we detect it, and how could we be told sooner? How could the analysis, containment, eradication and recovery go better? Who should be brought in, and when? These shorten the incidents that still happen. Both kinds of action go into the after-action report, which summarizes what happened, the root cause, trends and the procedures used. And both feed the preparation for the next incident, so the cycle keeps improving. A quick test: once this action is done, could the same incident happen again for the same reason? If not, it prevents a repeat. If it could, but the team would notice it, handle it or talk about it better, it improves the response.

What you'll learn

Sort a follow-up action from an incident by the question it answers: how do we stop it happening again, or how do we respond better next time?
Explain how follow-up actions and the after-action report feed back into preparation, so incidents become fewer and shorter

Aligned to

CompTIA CySA+

3.3 Explain the preparation and post-incident activity phases of the incident management life cycle.

NIST CSF

RS.AN-03 Analysis is performed to establish what has taken place during an incident and the root cause of the incident.

CompTIA Security+

4.8 Explain appropriate incident response activities.

NIST 800-53

IR-4 Incident Handling

ISC2 CISSP

7.6 Conduct incident management

Key terms

Lessons Learned: A post-incident review process that documents findings and identifies improvements to prevent future incidents and strengthen response procedures.
Corrective Action Plan: A documented set of action items developed to address the root cause of an incident and prevent it from happening again.
After-Action Report: A summary document that captures findings from the incident response process, including root cause analysis, trends, and lessons learned.
Root Cause Analysis: A systematic investigation process that identifies the underlying cause of a security incident or system failure, going beyond symptoms to prevent recurrence. RCA findings drive corrective actions and improvements to security controls.

Topics

Incident Response Lessons Learned Interactive Streak Sort

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