*Our Organization* Cyber Incident Response Plan 1

Cyber Incident Response Plan

DATE

Version 1.0

NOTE: The following Incident Response Plan is intended to provide an example of how a
policy and plan can be written. It is not intended to cover all possible situations. Each agency
must evaluate their unique circumstances and incorporate those into their plan. The plan is not
intended to be a “fill in the blank” plan. If an agency chooses to simply fill in the blanks, the
plan may not be sufficient to cover the agency’s unique requirements during a security incident
and could potentially cause the agency additional harm.

This document was created from existing cyber response plans that were in use at several
COMPANY. Names were removed and replaced with *Our Organization*.

Please share your plan and experiences with colleagues to help improve these tools.

Use this with the accompanying Incident Response Planning Companion to Sample IR Plan
PowerPoint presentation to guide your organization’s development of a cyber response plan.
*Our Organization* Cyber Incident Response Plan 2

Table of Contents
SUMMARY......................................................................................................................................3
*Our Organization* CYBER INCIDENT RESPONSE PLAN.......................................................4
1.0 Introduction............................................................................................................................4
1.1 Purpose of the Cyber Incident Response Plan...............................................................................4
1.2 General Purpose of the Cyber Incident Response Team...............................................................4
1.3 Operational Objectives of the Cyber Incident Response Team.....................................................4
2.0 Incidents.................................................................................................................................4
2.1 Incident Categories........................................................................................................................4
3.0 Responding to an incident......................................................................................................5
3.1 Organization..................................................................................................................................6
3.2 Escalation Levels...........................................................................................................................7
3.3 Escalation Considerations..............................................................................................................8
3.4 The Cyber Incident Response Process...........................................................................................8
3.5 Cyber Incident Response Team Roles and Responsibilities..........................................................8
3.6 Special Circumstances.................................................................................................................11
4.0 Post incident.........................................................................................................................11
4.1 Cyber Incident Coordinator and Response Management............................................................11
4.2 Extended Team............................................................................................................................12
Appendix A. Cyber Incident Response Team................................................................................13
Appendix B: Incident Response Diagram and Examples..............................................................14
Threat Example 1: Server Software Vulnerability.....................................................................15
Escalation Level Low Severity..........................................................................................................15
Escalation Level Medium Severity....................................................................................................15
Post Incident......................................................................................................................................15
Threat Example 2: Ongoing Phishing Attack on Employees.....................................................17
Escalation Level Low Severity..........................................................................................................17
Escalation Level Medium Severity....................................................................................................17
Escalation Level High Severity.........................................................................................................17
Post Incident......................................................................................................................................19
Threat Example 3: Stolen Asset, Leaked Confidential Information..........................................20
Escalation Level Low Severity..........................................................................................................20
Escalation Level Medium Severity....................................................................................................20
*Our Organization* Cyber Incident Response Plan 3

Escalation Level High Severity.........................................................................................................21

Escalation Level 3..............................................................................................................................22
Post Incident......................................................................................................................................23
Appendix C: ACIS Security Incidents Reporting Template*........................................................25

SUMMARY
The elements of a traditional Information Security effort continue to be important and useful.
Two trends necessitate the establishment of a Cyber Incident Response Plan:
1) Information Technology is widespread throughout *Our Organization*; *Our Organization*
relies heavily on Information Technology and cannot afford denial of service.
2) *Our Organization* IT systems and networks are at much higher risk to threats such as
computer viruses, intrusions, and exposures.

The following examples of cyber security incidents are now commonplace:

• A ransomware attack renders a municipality’s systems inoperable until systems can be
restored from backups (if available) or ransom is paid.
• A computer virus is copied to a LAN server; within minutes hundreds of other computers are
infected; recovery takes several people and several days.
• Backups infected with viruses result in re-infected systems, requiring more time and
expense.
• Vulnerabilities in software are discovered that permit unauthorized entry; explicit
instructions on how to exploit the vulnerability become quickly known.
• System intruders copy password files and distribute them throughout large networks.
• Break-ins through international networks require cooperation of different government
agencies.
• Outbreaks of viruses or system penetrations appear in the press, causing embarrassment and
possible loss of public confidence.

These situations can cause *Our Organization* to face unnecessary expense in productivity,
significant damage to systems, and damage to our reputation. Clearly, the need now exists to
take action prior to suffering the consequences of a serious IT security problem.
*Our Organization* Cyber Incident Response Plan 4

*Our Organization* CYBER INCIDENT RESPONSE PLAN

1.0 Introduction
1.1 Purpose of the Cyber Incident Response Plan
A Cyber Incident Response Plan is required in order to bring needed resources together in an
organized manner to deal with an adverse event related to the safety and security of *Our
Organization* Information System Resources. This adverse event may be malicious code attack,
unauthorized access to *Our Organization* systems, unauthorized use of *Our Organization*
services, denial of service attacks, general misuse of systems, and accidental loss or hoaxes.

1.2 General Purpose of the Cyber Incident Response Team

The purpose of *Our Organization*’s Cyber Incident Response Team is to:
• Protect *Our Organization*’s Information assets
• Provide a central organization to handle incidents
• Comply with requirements
• Prevent the use of *Our Organization*’s systems in attacks against other systems (which
could cause us to incur legal liability)
• Minimize the potential for negative exposure.
1.3 Operational Objectives of the Cyber Incident Response Team
The objectives of *Our Organization*’s Cyber Incident Response Team are to:
• Limit immediate incident impact to customers and partners
• Recover from the incident
• Determine how the incident occurred
• Find out how to avoid further exploitation of the same vulnerability
• Avoid escalation and further incidents
• Assess the impact and damage in terms of financial impact, loss of image etc.
• Update policies and procedures as needed
• Determine who initiated the incident
• Document all information, events, and efforts to provide to law enforcement.

2.0 Incidents
2.1 Incident Categories
An incident will be categorized as one of four severity levels. These severity levels are based on
the impact to *Our Organization* and can be expressed in terms of financial impact, impact to
services and/or performance of our mission functions, impact to *Our Organization*’s image or
impact to trust by *Our Organization*’s customers, etc. Table 1 provides a listing of the severity
levels and a definition/description of each severity level.
*Our Organization* Cyber Incident Response Plan 5

Severity Level Description

(Low) Incident where the impact is minimal. Examples are e-mail SPAM, isolated
Virus infections, etc.
(Medium) Incident where the impact is significant. Examples are a delayed ability to
provide services, meet *Our Organization*’s mission, delayed delivery of
critical electronic mail or data transfers, etc.
(High) Incident where the impact is severe. Examples are a disruption to the
services, and/or performance of our mission functions. *Our Organization*
proprietary of confidential information has been compromised, a virus or
worm has become wide spread, and is affecting over 1% of employees,
Public Safety systems are unavailable or *Our Organization* Executive
management has been notified.
(Extreme) Incident where the impact is catastrophic. Examples are a shutdown of all
*Our Organization* network services. *Our Organization* proprietary or
confidential information has been compromised and published on a public
site. Public safety systems are unavailable. Executive management must
make a public statement.

Table 1: Severity Levels

3.0 Responding to an incident

There are generally six stages of response:
1. Preparation—one of the most important facilities to a response plan is to know how to use it
once it is in place. Knowing how to respond to an incident BEFORE it occurs can save
valuable time and effort in the long run.
2. Identification—identify whether or not an incident has occurred. If one has occurred, the
response team can take the appropriate actions.
3. Containment—involves limiting the scope and magnitude of an incident. Because so many
incidents observed currently involve malicious code, incidents can spread rapidly. This can
cause massive destruction and loss of information. As soon as an incident is recognized,
immediately begin working on containment.
4. Eradication—removing the cause of the incident can be a difficult process. It can involve
virus removal, conviction of perpetrators, or dismissing employees.
5. Recovery—restoring a system to its normal business status is essential. Once a restore has
been performed, it is also important to verify that the restore operation was successful and
that the system is back to its normal condition.
6. Follow-up—some incidents require considerable time and effort. Often once the incident
appears to be terminated there is little interest in devoting any more effort to the incident.
Performing follow-up activity is, however, one of the most critical activities in the response
procedure. This follow-up can support any efforts to prosecute those who have broken the
law. This includes changing any company policies that may need to be narrowed down or be
changed altogether.
*Our Organization* Cyber Incident Response Plan 6

3.1 Organization
To adequately respond to an intrusion or incident, predetermined teams will participate
depending on the incident characteristics. As the situation develops and the impact becomes
more significant, the various teams will be called to contribute. Figure 1 depicts the Cyber
Incident Response organization.
Main Response Support
Cyber Incident Extended
Response Team
Management

Administrative
Support
Cyber Incident
Response
Coordinator
Communications /
Media Team

Cyber Technical Extended

Operations Operations Technical
Team Team Team

Figure 1: Cyber Incident Response Organization

Role Responsibilities Primary/Alternate(s)

Cyber Incident Response Will have overall responsibility for directing activities in
Management regard to the incident at High Severity Level and above.
Will serve in advisory capacity for incidents at Medium
Severity Level.
Cyber Incident Response Provides oversight to incident response.
Coordinator Requests resources as required to effectively contain and
manage an incident response. Documents incident for
purposes of law enforcement, lessons learned, and
insurance.
Cyber Operations Team / Provide technical aspects of incident response.
Technical Operations
Team
Communications / Media Responsible for internal, external and media
Team communications
Extended Technical Provides additional technical skill and capability to the
Team Technical Operations team as required (ie. outside
vendor or agency)
Admin Support Provides requested administrative support.
Extended Team Provide additional visibility and support to incident
response as required. Provide specific HR, legal, finance,
etc. skills as required.
Table 2: Roles and Responsibilities
*Our Organization* Cyber Incident Response Plan 7

3.2 Escalation Levels

Main Response Support
Severity Technical Cyber Cyber Comms Extended Admin Extended
Level Ops Incident Incident / Media Technical Support Team
Team, Response Response Team Team
Cyber Coordinator Mgmt
Ops
Team
Low X
Medium X X X
High X X X X X
Extreme X X X X X X X
Table 3: Severity Level Matrix

The escalation process will be invoked to involve appropriate resources as the incident has more
impact (severity level increases). Incidents should be handled at the lowest escalation level that
is capable of responding to the incident with as few resources as possible in order to reduce the
total impact, and to keep tight control. Table 4 defines the escalation levels with the associated
team involvement.

Escalation Affected Team(s) Description

Level
Low  Technical Operations Team Normal Operations. Engineering and cyber
 Cyber Operations Team groups monitoring for alerts from various
sources.
Medium  Technical Operations Team *Our Organization* has become aware of a
 Cyber Operations Team potential or actual threat. Determine
 Cyber Incident Response Coordinator defensive action to take. Message employees
 Cyber Incident Response Management of required actions if necessary.
High  Cyber Incident Response Management A threat has manifested itself. Determine
 Cyber Incident Response Coordinator course of action for containment and
 Technical Operations Team eradication. Message employees of required
 Cyber Operations Team actions if necessary.
 Extended Technical Team
 Communications / Media Team
Extreme  Cyber Incident Response Management Threat is wide spread or impact is
 Cyber Incident Response Coordinator significant. Determine course of action for
 Extended Team containment, mitigation and eradication.
 Technical Operations Team Message employees. Prepare to take legal
 Cyber Operations Team action. Prepare to make public statement.
 Extended Technical Team
 Communications / Media Team
 Administrative Support Team
Table 4: Escalation Levels
*Our Organization* Cyber Incident Response Plan 8

3.3 Escalation Considerations

Cyber Incident Response Management will consider several characteristics of the incident
before escalating the response to a higher level. They are:
• How wide spread is the incident?
• What is the impact to business operations?
• How difficult is it to contain the incident?
• How fast is the incident propagating?
• What is the estimated financial impact to *Our Organization*?
• Will this affect *Our Organization*’s image negatively?

3.4 The Cyber Incident Response Process

The Cyber Incident Response Process is an escalation process where as the impact of the
incident becomes more significant or wide spread, the escalation level increases bringing more
resources to bear on the problem. At each escalation level, team members who will be needed at
the next higher level of escalation are alerted to the incident so that they will be ready to respond
if and when they are needed.
Appendix B depicts the overall process, while paragraph 3.5 outlines the roles and
responsibilities of individual teams. Team membership is contained in Appendix A.
In cases where Criminal Justice Information (CJI) is involved, *Our Organization* will contact
the MSP ISO and fill out and submit the CJIS 016 document if the incident significantly
endangers the security or integrity of CJIS data.

3.5 Cyber Incident Response Team Roles and Responsibilities

3.5.1 Escalation Level Low Severity
ii. Technical Operations Team / Cyber Operations Team
1. Monitors all known sources for alerts or notification of a threat.
2. Take appropriate defensive actions per known issues.
3. Escalate to Cyber Incident Coordinator if determined that Severity level
may be greater than Level Low Severity.

iii. Cyber Incident Coordinator

1. Escalate Cyber Incident Response to Level Medium Severity if
information is received that the incident is likely greater than Level Low
Severity.

3.5.2 Escalation Level Medium Severity

*Our Organization* has become aware of a potential or actual threat.
i. Technical Operations Team / Cyber Operations Team
1. Determine initial defensive action required.
2. Notify the Cyber Incident Coordinator.
3. Determine appropriate course of action.
*Our Organization* Cyber Incident Response Plan 9

ii. Cyber Incident Coordinator

1. Receive and track all reported potential threats.
2. Start a chronological log of events.
3. Escalate Cyber Incident Response to Level High Severity if a report is
received indicating that the threat has manifested itself.
4. Determine relevant membership of the Technical Operations and Extended
Technical teams.
5. Alert other IT personnel and applicable support organizations of the
potential threat and any defensive action required.
6. Alert Cyber Incident Response Management of the potential threat. Seek
advisory inputs as appropriate.
7. Alert Communications Team

iii. Cyber Incident Response Management

1. Provide advisory inputs as appropriate.

iv. Communications Team

1. If employee action required, message employees of required action.

3.5.3 Escalation Level High Severity

The threat has manifested itself.
i. Cyber Incident Coordinator
1. Notify Cyber Incident Response Management of the manifestation of the
threat,
2. Receive status from the Technical Operations Team and report to Cyber
Incident Response Management,
3. Start a chronological log of events.

Note: The chronological log will be used to support possible follow on

legal action as determined by *Our Organization*’s General Counsel and
Executive Directors.
ii. Technical Operations Team
1. Determine best course of action for immediate containment of the
incident,
2. Notify the Technical Support Team of any action that is required,
3. Report actions taken and status to the Cyber Incident Response
Coordinator.

iv. Cyber Incident Response Management

1. Assume responsibility for directing activities in regard to the incident,
2. Coordinate discussion and analysis to determine best course of resolution,
3. Alert the Administrative Support Team of the incident,
4. Alert the Extended Team as applicable,
5. Determine whether Escalation Level High Severity is appropriate or
escalate to level 3,
*Our Organization* Cyber Incident Response Plan 10

6. Determine when the risk has been mitigated to an acceptable level.

v. Extended Technical Team
1. Take whatever action as determined by the Technical Operations Team
2. Report actions taken, number of personnel involved etc. to Incident
Coordinator for the chronological log
vi. Communications Team
1. Message *Our Organization* employee population informing them of the
incident if deemed appropriate by Cyber Incident Response Management,
2. Message *Our Organization* employee population of any action they
need to take as determined by the Technical Operations Team and
directed by Cyber Incident Response Management.

3.5.4 Escalation Level 3

The threat has become widespread or has become a high severity level.
i. Cyber Incident Response Management
1. Direct the response team to:
a. Set up communications channels between all teams.
b. Assume occupancy of the command center if exists.
c. Open a teleconference bridge for ongoing communications and
team interaction or Initialize an incident voice mail box where
status messages can be placed to keep *Our Organization*
personnel statused
2. Organize scheduled team meetings. Define specific status update
schedule.
3. Authorize initial communications to employees and executives. Use Smart
Message system as desired.
4. Alert the Extended Team of the incident notifying them of the Severity
Level.
5. Status Executive Management as appropriate.
6. Determine when the risk has been mitigated to an acceptable level.
ii. Extended Team
1. Contact local authorities if deemed appropriate,
2. If local authorities are called in, make arrangements for them to be
allowed into the building,
3. Ensure that all needed information is being collected to support legal
action or financial restitution.
iii. Cyber Incident Response Coordinator
1. Continue maintaining the Chronological Log of Event,
2. Continue to manage incident response per direction of Cyber Incident
Response Management.
iv. Communication Team
1. Message *Our Organization* population and external media as directed
by Cyber Incident Response Management.
vii. Technical Operations Team
*Our Organization* Cyber Incident Response Plan 11

1. Continue to monitor all known sources for alerts looking for further
information or actions to take to eliminate the threat,
2. Continue reporting status to the Cyber Incident Response Coordinator for
the chronological log of events,
3. Monitor effectiveness of actions taken and modify them as necessary,
4. Provide status to Cyber Incident Response Coordinator and Cyber
Incident Response Management on effectiveness of actions taken and
progress in eliminating the threat.
viii. Extended Technical Team
1. Continue actions to eradicate the threat as directed by Cyber Incident
2. Response Coordinate and Cyber Incident Response Management and the
Technical Operations team.
3. Continue to report actions taken, number of personnel etc. to the Cyber
Incident Response Coordinator for the chronological log.
ix. Administrative Support Team
1. Provide administrative support to all persons and teams involved in
incident

3.6 Special Circumstances

i. Email Communications are compromised or otherwise unavailable
1. There could be a cyber security incident that compromises the ability to
communicate via email. In this case, the backup will be communications
via desk phone or cell phone. A phone directory of key persons on the
response teams is given in Appendix A.

ii. Personal Identification Information / HIPAA or other Confidential Information is

leaked via Internal Source
1. The process defined above can also apply to the circumstance where
information is leaked via an internal source by accident or maliciously. In
this case, the steps in the response process would be very similar to the
above process but would also include early determination of the type and
quantity of data leaked, the source of the leak and the potential impact of
the leak to the County or to the public at large.
4.0 Post incident

4.1 Cyber Incident Coordinator and Response Management

1. Report on:
a) Estimate of damage/impact,
b) Action taken during the incident (not technical detail),
c) Follow on efforts needed to eliminate or mitigate the vulnerability,
d) Policies or procedures that require updating,
e) Efforts taken to minimize liabilities or negative exposure.
f) Provide the chronological log and any system audit logs requested by the Extended Team,
*Our Organization* Cyber Incident Response Plan 12

g) Document lessons learned and modify the Cyber Incident Response Plan accordingly.

4.2 Extended Team

1. Legal and Finance work with the local authorities as appropriate in the case that the incident was
from an external source,
2. HR and IT work with *Our Organization* management to determine disciplinary action in the
case that the incident was from an internal source.
3. Homeland Security leveraged to support as necessary.
*Our Organization* Cyber Incident Response Plan 13

Appendix A. Cyber Incident Response Team

Team Leadership / Members Contact Information

CISO, IT Manager, Section
Cyber Incident Response
Manager/Supervisor, manager of
Management
section where IT reports
Cyber Incident Response Security Operations or Designee
Coordinator
Administrative Support Administration
Team General
Infrastructure
Technical Operations
Technical support
Team
Applications
Operations
Cyber Operations Team
Operations - Assigned technician
Extended Technical Trusted Vendor(s)
Team External Infrastructure and
Applications personnel as needed
Trusted Peer
Communications / Media Communications
Team
Legal
Risk Management
HR
Finance
Local Law Enforcement
Department Managers
Extended Team (for communications and
business continuity)
Cyber Insurance Provider
Cyber Command Center
Other
Other
Other
Executive Management
*Our Organization* Cyber Incident Response Plan 14

Appendix B: Incident Response Diagram and Examples

*Our Organization* Cyber Incident Response Plan 15

Threat Example 1: Server Software Vulnerability

Escalation Level Low Severity

TECHNICAL OPERATIONS TEAM
1. A critical zero-day (discovered by its use in the wild) software vulnerability
affects the operating system on a widely-used production server. The
vulnerability allows for an unauthorized privilege escalation and therefore
unauthorized data access. The threat is escalated to Level Medium Severity.

Escalation Level Medium Severity

TECHNICAL OPERATIONS TEAM
1. Determines that the defensive action required is a patch of the operating system
from the vendor.

2. Notifies the Incident Coordinator of the vulnerability.

3. Determines that employee action is not required.

INCIDENT COORDINATOR
1. Receives and tracks the status of the vulnerability.

2. Does not escalate the threat to Level High Severity, since the vulnerability has
not manifested itself.

3. Determines relevant membership of the Technical Operations and Extended

Technical team.

4. Alerts IT organizations and applicable support organizations of the vulnerability.

The action required to contain the threat is a patch of the operating system from
the vendor. This patch must be applied and tested on a development server
before being propagated to the production server.

5. Alerts Cyber Incident Response Management of the vulnerability.

6. Alerts the Communications Team.

COMMUNICATIONS TEAM
1. Since employee action is not required, no message to employees is necessary.

Post Incident
CYBER INCIDENT RESPONSE MANAGEMENT
1. Prepare a report for *Our Organization* Executive Management to include:

a. Estimate of the impact of addressing the vulnerability and the potential

cost of not doing so,
*Our Organization* Cyber Incident Response Plan 16

b. Action taken during the vulnerability’s assessment,

c. Follow on efforts needed to eliminate or mitigate the vulnerability,

d. Policies or procedures that may require updating (if applicable), and

e. Efforts taken to minimize the liabilities of negative exposure of the

vulnerability.

2. Provides the chronological log and any system audit logs requested by the
Extended Team.

3. Documents any lessons learned and modifies the Cyber Incident Response Plan
accordingly.

EXTENDED TEAM
1. Not needed, because there was no manifestation of the vulnerability.
*Our Organization* Cyber Incident Response Plan 17

Threat Example 2: Ongoing Phishing Attack on Employees

Escalation Level Low Severity

TECHNICAL OPERATIONS TEAM
1. Emails have been circulating to *Our Organization* employees that link users to a
fraudulent website designed specifically to gather user authentication credentials
from *Our Organization* employees. The threat is escalated to Level Medium
Severity.

Escalation Level Medium Severity

TECHNICAL OPERATIONS TEAM
1. Determines that the initial defensive action required is to notify employees of the
phishing scam and educate them on avoiding these types of attacks.

2. Notifies Incident Coordinator.

3. Determines that employee action will be required, notifies Service Center.

CYBER INCIDENT COORDINATOR

1. Receives and tracks the phishing attack.

2. Escalates the threat to Level High Severity, since it has manifested itself.

3. Determines relevant membership of the Technical Operations and Extended

Technical Team.

4. Alerts IT organizations and applicable support organizations of the phishing. The

organizations begin modifying internal firewalls to block the offending website as
well as initiating a system-wide password reset.

5. Alerts Cyber Incident Response Management of the phishing threat.

6. Alerts the Communications Team.

COMMUNICATIONS TEAM
1. A message is composed to all employees and sent system-wide.
Additionally, all departmental managers are alerted to the phishing scam and
asked to notify all employees in person immediately.

Escalation Level High Severity

CYBER INCIDENT COORDINATOR
1. Notifies Cyber Incident Response Management of the phishing attack.

2. Alerts the Cyber Incident Response Support Team of the phishing attack.

3. Alerts the Extended Team.

*Our Organization* Cyber Incident Response Plan 18

4. Receives status from the Technical Operations Team regarding the status of
employee education. Reports the status to the Cyber Incident Response
Management.

5. Starts a chronological log of the events, including logs of emails and, if possible,
logs of users accessing the offending website.

TECHNICAL OPERATIONS TEAM

1. Determines that the best course of action for containing the attack is educating
all employees about the attack and blocking any further emails from arriving on
mail servers. Additionally, concludes that blocking the fraudulent website from
being accessed internally. Finally, decides that a system-wide user password
reset is necessary, since email is accessible from outside of *Our Organization*’s
network and merely blocking the offending site will not be sufficient and the
emails have been circulating for an unknown amount of time to only select
employees.

2. Notifies the Extended Technical Team team of the above actions that are
required.

3. Reports actions taken and status to the Cyber Incident Response Coordinator.

CYBER INCIDENT RESPONSE MANAGEMENT

1. Assumes responsibility for directing activities in regard to the phishing attack.

2. Determines that the attack does not need to be escalated to Level 3.

3. Determines when the risk has been mitigated to an acceptable level.

EXTENDED TECHNICAL TEAM

1. Takes the actions required by the Technical Operations Team.

2. Reports the actions taken, the number of personnel involved etc. to Cyber
Incident Coordinator for the chronological log.

COMMUNICATIONS TEAM
1. Carries out the education of *Our Organization* employees by informing them of
the incident and making sure everyone is aware of the scam as deemed
appropriate by Cyber Incident Response Management.

2. Messages the *Our Organization* employees about the system-wide password

reset, and how the employees must go about regaining access to their user
accounts as determined by the Technical assessment team and directed by Cyber
Incident Response Management.

Post Incident
CYBER INCIDENT RESPONSE MANAGEMENT
*Our Organization* Cyber Incident Response Plan 19

1. Prepare a report for *Our Organization* Executive Management to include:

a. Estimate of the impact of addressing the phishing attack and the potential
cost of not doing so,

b. Action taken during the attack’s assessment,

c. Follow on efforts needed to eliminate or mitigate the vulnerability

presented by the phishing attack,

d. Policies or procedures that may require updating, such as password

change rules and procedures, and

e. Efforts taken to minimize the liabilities of negative exposure of the attack.

2. Provides the chronological log and any system audit logs requested by the
Extended Team.

3. Documents any lessons learned and modifies the Cyber Incident Response Plan
accordingly.

EXTENDED TEAM
1. Legal works with the authorities to present any information relating to the
phishing party.

2. No disciplinary action will need to be taken.

3. Executive Management Team (EMT) leveraged to communicate to employees

about the threat of phishing attacks and to be vigilant.
*Our Organization* Cyber Incident Response Plan 20

Threat Example 3: Stolen Asset, Leaked Confidential Information

Escalation Level Low Severity

TECHNICAL OPERATIONS TEAM
1. An *Our Organization* employee has his or her laptop stolen, which contains
unencrypted confidential personal information of *Our Organization* residents,
including names, addresses, Social Security numbers, etc. The information has
been found and posted on the public Internet. The threat is escalated to Level
Medium Severity.

Escalation Level Medium Severity

TECHNICAL OPERATIONS TEAM
1. Determines that the attack has already taken place and that there is no initial
technical defense possible in this circumstance. However, an internal data
security practices audit is necessary to keep a data leak from happening again.

2. Notifies the Cyber Incident Coordinator.

3. Determines that employee action required to secure confidential data in the

future through education. Contacts Service Center to arrange for instructions.

CYBER INCIDENT COORDINATOR

1. Receives and tracks the stolen data event.

2. Escalates to Level High Severity, because the threat has manifested itself.

3. Determines relevant membership of the Technical Operations and Extended

Technical teams.

4. Alerts IT organizations and applicable support organizations of the situation.

Defensive action that must be taken involves an audit of information security
practices internally to ensure further data breaches do not occur.

5. Alert Cyber Incident Response Management of the data leak.

6. Alert the Communications team.

COMMUNICATIONS TEAM
1. Employee action is going to be required for the internal information security
practices audit. The Communications Team notifies employees of the data
breach and the actions that are going to be taken to prevent such a leak in the
future.

Escalation Level High Severity

CYBER INCIDENT COORDINATOR
*Our Organization* Cyber Incident Response Plan 21

1. Notifies Cyber Incident Response Management of the data leak.

2. Alerts the Cyber Incident Response Support Team of the data leak.

3. Alerts the Extended Team.

4. Receives status of the information security audit from the Technical Assessment
Team and reports to Cyber Incident Response Management.

5. Starts a chronological log of events from the origin of the data to determine how
the data ended up in a situation where it could be leaked. The chronological log
will be used to support possible follow on legal action as determined by *Our
Organization*’s General Counsel and Executive Directors.

TECHNICAL OPERATIONS TEAM

1. Determines that containment of the incident is going to be legal in nature, but
that information security practices will need to be overhauled.

2. Notifies Extended Technical Team of the plan to audit and augment data security
practices internally, including any technical measures that will need to be put
into place to that end.

3. Reports actions taken and status to the Cyber Incident Response Coordinator.

CYBER INCIDENT RESPONSE MANAGEMENT

1. Assumes responsibility for directing activities in regard to the incident.

2. Determines that escalation Level High Severity is not sufficient and escalates the
incident to Level 3.

3. Determines when the risk has been mitigated to an acceptable level.

EXTENDED TECHNICAL TEAM

1. Takes action to begin comprehensive information security practices audit
internally, as determined by the Technical Operations Team.

2. Reports actions taken, number of personnel involved etc. to Incident Coordinator

for the chronological log.

COMMUNICATIONS TEAM
1. Messages *Our Organization* employee population informing them of the
information leak and the ensuing legal action, as deemed appropriate by Cyber
Incident Response Management.

2. Messages *Our Organization* employee population of the forthcoming

comprehensive information security practices audit and the organization-wide
*Our Organization* Cyber Incident Response Plan 22

practices that will be augmented as determined by the Technical Operations

team and directed by Cyber Incident Response Management.

Escalation Level 3
CYBER INCIDENT RESPONSE MANAGEMENT
1. Directs the Cyber Incident Response Support team to:

a. Set up communications between all Cyber Incident Response Team

Managers, and the Extended Support Team in the field,

b. Assume occupancy of the command center, and

c. Initialize an incident voice mail box where status messages can be placed
to keep *Our Organization* personnel statused.

2. Alerts the Extended Team of the incident notifying them of the Severity Level.

3. Determines when the risk has been mitigated to an acceptable level after the
comprehensive information security data protection audit and overhaul.

4. Statuses Executive Management as appropriate.

EXTENDED TEAM
1. Contacts local, state, and federal authorities.

2. Makes arrangements for authorities to be allowed into the command center.

3. Ensures that all needed information is being collected to support legal action
against the leaker and financial restitution for those affected by the breach of
their personal information by *Our Organization* personnel.

CYBER INCIDENT RESPONSE COORDINATOR

1. Continues maintaining the Chronological Log of the event.

2. Posts numbered status messages in the incident voice mail box for statusing
*Our Organization* Executive Management Team (if applicable).

COMMUNICATION TEAM
1. Messages *Our Organization* population as directed by Cyber Incident Response
Management regarding the status of the information security data practices audit
and any forthcoming changes to be made to policy.

TECHNICAL OPERATIONS TEAM

1. Continues to monitor all known sources for alerts looking for further information
or actions to take to eliminate the threat of further data being lost in any way,
both internally and externally.
*Our Organization* Cyber Incident Response Plan 23

2. Continues reporting status to the Cyber Incident Response Coordinator for the
chronological log of events.

3. Monitors effectiveness of the information security practices audit and

subsequent changes and modifies them as necessary.

4. Statuses Cyber Incident Response Management on effectiveness of actions taken

and progress in eliminating the threat of further information leakage.

EXTENDED SUPPORT TEAM

1. Continues the information security practices audit and changes to eradicate the
further threat of data leaks as directed by Cyber Incident Response Management
and the Technical Operations team.

2. Continues to report actions taken, number of personnel etc. to the Cyber Incident
Response Coordinator for the chronological log.

Post Incident
CYBER INCIDENT RESPONSE MANAGEMENT
1. Prepare a report for *Our Organization* Executive Management to include:

a. Estimate of the impact of addressing the data leak and the potential cost
of not doing so,

b. Action taken during the comprehensive information security practices

audit and assessment,

c. Follow on efforts needed to eliminate or mitigate any and all

vulnerabilities that exist in terms of confidential data security,

d. Policies or procedures that may require updating to ensure strict oversight

of sensitive data within *Our Organization*,

e. Efforts taken to minimize the liabilities of negative exposure of the attack.

2. Provides the chronological log and any system audit logs requested by the
Extended Team.

3. Documents any lessons learned and modifies the Cyber Incident Response Plan
accordingly.

EXTENDED TEAM
1. Legal works with the authorities to present any information relating to the
leaking party that may lead to prosecution.

2. Human Resources and Information Services work with *Our Organization*

management to determine disciplinary action for the negligent employee.
*Our Organization* Cyber Incident Response Plan 24

3. Executive Management Team leveraged to communicate to employees about the

seriousness of keeping data safe and the costs of not doing so, as exemplified in
this case.
*Our Organization* Cyber Incident Response Plan 25

Appendix C: ACIS Security Incidents Reporting Template*

Incident Detector’s Information

Date/Time of Report
First Name
Last Name
Department/Division
Title/Position
Work Email Address
Contact Phone Work Mobile Pager Other
Numbers
Reported Incident Information
Incident Location
Incident Point of
Contact (if different
than above)
Priority Level Medium Severity / Level High Severity / Level 3
Data Breach? Yes / No
Breach Category
Incident Type
US-CERT Category DoS / Malicious Code / Probes and Scans / Unauthorized Access / Other
US-CERT Number
Description
Additional Support
Action Requested
Method Detected IDS/Log Review/ A/V Systems/ User Notification/ Other
Configuration Item(s)
Affected
Department/
Division Impact
Information Sharing Entities with which ACIS can share incident data
System for Sharing
Status Ongoing/ Resolved/ Etc.
Attacking Computer(s) Information
IP Address / Range Host Name Operating System Ports Targeted System Purpose

Victims Computer(s) Information

IP Address / Range Host Name Operating System Ports Targeted System Purpose

Action Plan
Action Description
Requestor
Assignee
Time Frame
Status
Conclusion / Summary
*Our Organization* Cyber Incident Response Plan 26

Entities Notified
Resolution Include whether lost materials recovered as part of the solution