How often have we seen organizations struggle to detect and eliminate security incidents even after having a robust cybersecurity framework? The possible reason can be an inefficient incident response (IR) plan. Lately, organizations across industries have observed failure in adopting a strong IR plan due to certain causes.
According to reports, over 45% of organizations across the globe do not have incident response plans. Among the other 55% of firms that have adopted IR plans, 42% do not update them regularly. Under such circumstances, organizations faced an average cost of data breach of $4.88 million in 2024. Notably, firms regularly update their IR plan, successfully saving an average of $1.49 million/ breach.
This blog will analyze the seven key causes that often make your incident response plans fail. Firstly, let us understand what an IR plan is and how it works.
What is an Incident Response Plan?
Incident Response Plans are an action-oriented strategy that assists IT teams to detect, respond to, and recover from cybersecurity threats. Such strategies aim to limit the aftereffects of security incidents, data breaches, and other disruptions, ensuring continuity of business operations. Having the right skillset and an efficient incident response team is a key consideration of an effective IR plan.
The incident response process generally follows several major stages: preparation, detection, containment, eradication, recovery, post-recovery assessment, and testing the IR plan. Incident response plans can be beneficial for organizations in different ways. Such strategies can reduce damage after a cyber-attack, detect the root cause of an incident, offer the most effective resolutions to eliminate a security issue, support business continuity, and more.
In short, an IR plan offers certain guidelines that empower IT teams to not only identify possible security threats but also eradicate them, limiting their impact on business operations.
7 Major Reasons Incident Response Plans Fail-
1] Complex or Vague Plans:
Increasingly complex and poorly structured plans often become a hurdle for effective incident response. Excessive technical plans take significant time to get completed. In the process, added information often gets outdated. In another instance, some plans sound like legal policies, which often become complex to understand for IT teams.
Daniel Kennedy, the Principal Research Analyst of S&P Global Market Intelligence, has considered all these situations a hurdle to explain why the incident response plan fails. In this regard, outlining simplified guidelines that IT teams easily understand and employ is crucial.
2] Unclear Roles and Responsibilities:
Incident response plans can fail when the roles and responsibilities in each stage lack clarity. The plan must have clear decision-making hierarchies that support the incident response framework with real-time decisions. In case of any delay or inefficiency while making the right decision during an incident, the entire plan may fail.
According to Mari DeGrazia, a certified instructor of SANS, successful IR plans build clear decision-making hierarchies. She further indicates establishing pre-authorized actions to eliminate the need for real-time authorization and delays.
3] Inadequate Tooling and Access:
When the IT or IR team does not have access to the necessary tools and permissions or credentials for essential systems, an incident response plan can fail. The initial moments of an incident are crucial; limited access to required tools at this stage can impact the outcome, contributing to the failure of the IR plan.
Elvia Finalle, a cybersecurity analyst at Omdia, has revealed how poorly configured or maintained accessibility to tools can create challenges during an actual incident. She further stresses including backup systems, monitored tools, and effective communication systems in the incident response plan for successful detection and elimination of security incidents.
4] Rigid and Inflexible Plans:
IR plans are created on possible threat conditions, which are mostly assumed. However, during the actual incident, the issues can be diverse and different from what was assumed previously. Under such circumstances, IR professionals have to go beyond what has been structured within a plan to tackle the situation.
Hence, plans must be flexible and adaptable to address scenarios that differ from ideal ones. Elvia Finalle describes that reality is the opposite of what we generally assume. Hence, during incident response, set processes often fail to detect and eliminate issues.
5] Never-Tested Response Plans:
One of the major mistakes organizations make in their IR plan is creating response incident plans but not testing them. The data and threat ecosystem continuously evolve. A plan based on old architecture may not be highly effective for new-age threats. Additionally, as the threat ecosystem changes, the required skills to detect them have to be updated.
So, organizations must update and test their IR plans continuously. Alongside that, offer necessary training to the IR team to address incidents effectively. Elvia Finalle remarks that making continuous revisions and testing with the IR plan can be beneficial in tackling sudden incidents and making better decisions without confusion.
6] Lack of Cross-Functional Input:
A key hurdle that causes failure in an incident response plan is the lack of cross-functional initiatives. While the threat environment is rapidly changing, it is clear that cybersecurity is not the sole responsibility of the IT or IR team. Additionally, attackers can target any section of an organization. Hence, if the teams fail to collaborate in real-time, having an incident response plan cannot reduce damage during actual incidents.
Elvia Finalle points out that security teams create IR plans, hence they know it exists. However, if the entire organization is unaware of it, the strategies in the plan may not be executed appropriately. Hence, organizations must look for a collaborative approach to strengthen their IR plan.
7] Ignoring the Human Element:
Incident response teams often overlook the human element, which can cause critical situations. Human error is a common phenomenon during times of crisis. Decision-making in high-pressure situations with time limitations can be challenging. During such times, errors can take place. Moreover, on several occasions, teams fail to identify a threat and respond to it.
One of Omedia’s analysts, Andrew Braunberg, has stated that organizations must have a clear incident response plan and organize continuous training to sustain awareness and limit the possibilities of human errors.
Wrapping Up!
Incident response plans have become crucial for organizations that aim to operate without major disruptions. Apart from that, the threat environment is swiftly advancing, and attackers are becoming more powerful than ever with sophisticated methods. Stronger firewalls are what can save companies from unwanted circumstances.
Address the key challenges we identified in your incident response plan and strengthen it today. Read our expert-led blogs to learn about the latest technologies, security practices, and challenges.
FAQs:
Q1. What are P1, P2, P3, and P4 incidents?
Answer: P1, P2, P3, and P4 indicate priority levels in IT service management while addressing and classifying security issues. P1 defines highly critical and urgent incidents that require immediate resolution. P2 means high-priority issues that need fast resolution. P3 signals issues with limited impact, while P4 indicates minor issues.
Q2. What are the 5 steps of incident response?
Answer: Here are the 5 steps of incident response-
- Preparation
- Detection and analysis
- Containment, eradication, and recovery
- Post-incident activity
- Incident response process test
You might like:
How to Secure Your Business from Cyber Threats?
Endpoint Security 101 – How to Protect Your Business from Cyber Threats?
AI Runbooks: Examples, Types, and How They Simplify Incident Management
