Home > Articles > Security > General Security and Privacy

Forming and Managing an Incident Response Team

This sample chapter delves into forming and managing an incident response team - what a response team is, the rationale for forming an incident response team, major issues that must be addressed, and special management considerations.
This chapter is from the book

From time to time, we've mentioned the word "team" in the process of covering various topics related to incident response. This chapter delves into forming and managing an incident response team—what a response team is, the rationale for forming an incident response team, major issues that must be addressed, and special management considerations. These topics are particularly important. Many incident response efforts fail or flounder because of mistakes made in forming and/or managing a response team. This chapter again presents the authors' perspectives and real-life experiences in dealing with the many issues related to this area. We will begin by considering the most fundamental part of an "incident response team"—the meaning of the term itself.

What Is an Incident Response Team?

In many contexts, you will see "incident response" equated with "incident response team." Equating these two constructs might superficially appear logical, but doing so often constitutes a departure from reality. Why? People who know little or nothing about the process of incident response often become involved in dealing with security-related incidents. Users are a classic example.

Suppose a worm infects numerous systems. Users might collaborate to analyze what has happened and to combat the worm, yet they can hardly be called an incident response team. The reason is that an incident response team is a capability responsible for dealing with potential or real information security incidents. A team is assigned a set of duties related to bringing each security-related incident to a conclusion, ideally in accordance with the goals of the organization it serves. The difference, therefore, between individuals who are dealing with an incident and an incident response team is the mission—in terms of job-related responsibilities—assigned to each. Individuals might sometimes become involved in dealing with incidents, but an incident response team is assigned the responsibility of dealing with incidents as part or all of the job descriptions of the individuals involved.

How many individuals must be involved in an incident response effort for them to collectively be considered a team? A team consists of one or more individuals. You might ask how a team can consist of one individual when one person is not, in most situations, sufficient to deal adequately with most incidents. The answer is that one individual can effectively serve as the coordinator of efforts by a number of people. When incident handling efforts are finished, the others involved in the incident are released from any responsibilities they might have had in dealing with incident. But the team member has the ongoing, day-to-day responsibility of handling incidents and will have to deal with the next incident that occurs.

Many incident response teams have many team members, each with a specialized role. Consider, for example, the Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Center (CERT/CC). Some of the many members of this team are engaged in daily operations, receiving reports of incidents and attempting to identify the type, source, impact, and other facets of security-related incidents that are reported. Others attempt to deal with vendors to close known vulnerabilities in operating systems, applications, and so forth. Still others examine data to identify and project incident trends, something that is more related to research.

Outsourcing Incident Response Efforts

Should an organization have its own incident response effort, or should it contract with a consultancy or contractor to provide incident response support? The answer in most cases is that it depends on a number of basic factors. Let's consider the alternatives.

Hiring a Contractor or Consultancy. One of the many advantages of contracting with a commercial incident response team is that the overall cost of dealing with security-related incidents is likely to be lower. Why? Incident response personnel—contractors or consultants—need to deal only with incidents that occur. Unless there is a plethora of incidents, there is no need to keep regular personnel around to wait for incidents to occur. Additionally, contractors or consultancies usually offer special kinds of expertise that are often not available within any particular organization. Be careful, however. Many consultancies and service providers offer incident response services, some of which are far superior to others. Be sure to ask for references, preferably from current and ex-customers, before signing any contract for incident response services with any consultancy or service provider.

Using In-House Capability. The major rationale for developing an in-house incident response capability is to handle incidents in accordance with the policy and cultural/political needs of an organization. Security-related incidents are potentially very sensitive and political; an in-house capability is likely to deal with them in a manner that is most advantageous to the organization (provided, of course, that the individuals within this capability understand the culture and politics of the organization).

InformIT Promotional Mailings & Special Offers

I would like to receive exclusive offers and hear about products from InformIT and its family of brands. I can unsubscribe at any time.

Overview


Pearson Education, Inc., 221 River Street, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, (Pearson) presents this site to provide information about products and services that can be purchased through this site.

This privacy notice provides an overview of our commitment to privacy and describes how we collect, protect, use and share personal information collected through this site. Please note that other Pearson websites and online products and services have their own separate privacy policies.

Collection and Use of Information


To conduct business and deliver products and services, Pearson collects and uses personal information in several ways in connection with this site, including:

Questions and Inquiries

For inquiries and questions, we collect the inquiry or question, together with name, contact details (email address, phone number and mailing address) and any other additional information voluntarily submitted to us through a Contact Us form or an email. We use this information to address the inquiry and respond to the question.

Online Store

For orders and purchases placed through our online store on this site, we collect order details, name, institution name and address (if applicable), email address, phone number, shipping and billing addresses, credit/debit card information, shipping options and any instructions. We use this information to complete transactions, fulfill orders, communicate with individuals placing orders or visiting the online store, and for related purposes.

Surveys

Pearson may offer opportunities to provide feedback or participate in surveys, including surveys evaluating Pearson products, services or sites. Participation is voluntary. Pearson collects information requested in the survey questions and uses the information to evaluate, support, maintain and improve products, services or sites, develop new products and services, conduct educational research and for other purposes specified in the survey.

Contests and Drawings

Occasionally, we may sponsor a contest or drawing. Participation is optional. Pearson collects name, contact information and other information specified on the entry form for the contest or drawing to conduct the contest or drawing. Pearson may collect additional personal information from the winners of a contest or drawing in order to award the prize and for tax reporting purposes, as required by law.

Newsletters

If you have elected to receive email newsletters or promotional mailings and special offers but want to unsubscribe, simply email information@informit.com.

Service Announcements

On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send users an email. Generally, users may not opt-out of these communications, though they can deactivate their account information. However, these communications are not promotional in nature.

Customer Service

We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regard to issues relating to their account we reply via email or phone in accordance with the users' wishes when a user submits their information through our Contact Us form.

Other Collection and Use of Information


Application and System Logs

Pearson automatically collects log data to help ensure the delivery, availability and security of this site. Log data may include technical information about how a user or visitor connected to this site, such as browser type, type of computer/device, operating system, internet service provider and IP address. We use this information for support purposes and to monitor the health of the site, identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents and appropriately scale computing resources.

Web Analytics

Pearson may use third party web trend analytical services, including Google Analytics, to collect visitor information, such as IP addresses, browser types, referring pages, pages visited and time spent on a particular site. While these analytical services collect and report information on an anonymous basis, they may use cookies to gather web trend information. The information gathered may enable Pearson (but not the third party web trend services) to link information with application and system log data. Pearson uses this information for system administration and to identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents, appropriately scale computing resources and otherwise support and deliver this site and its services.

Cookies and Related Technologies

This site uses cookies and similar technologies to personalize content, measure traffic patterns, control security, track use and access of information on this site, and provide interest-based messages and advertising. Users can manage and block the use of cookies through their browser. Disabling or blocking certain cookies may limit the functionality of this site.

Do Not Track

This site currently does not respond to Do Not Track signals.

Security


Pearson uses appropriate physical, administrative and technical security measures to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use and disclosure.

Children


This site is not directed to children under the age of 13.

Marketing


Pearson may send or direct marketing communications to users, provided that

  • Pearson will not use personal information collected or processed as a K-12 school service provider for the purpose of directed or targeted advertising.
  • Such marketing is consistent with applicable law and Pearson's legal obligations.
  • Pearson will not knowingly direct or send marketing communications to an individual who has expressed a preference not to receive marketing.
  • Where required by applicable law, express or implied consent to marketing exists and has not been withdrawn.

Pearson may provide personal information to a third party service provider on a restricted basis to provide marketing solely on behalf of Pearson or an affiliate or customer for whom Pearson is a service provider. Marketing preferences may be changed at any time.

Correcting/Updating Personal Information


If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as your postal address or email address), we provide a way to correct or update that user's personal data provided to us. This can be done on the Account page. If a user no longer desires our service and desires to delete his or her account, please contact us at customer-service@informit.com and we will process the deletion of a user's account.

Choice/Opt-out


Users can always make an informed choice as to whether they should proceed with certain services offered by InformIT. If you choose to remove yourself from our mailing list(s) simply visit the following page and uncheck any communication you no longer want to receive: www.informit.com/u.aspx.

Sale of Personal Information


Pearson does not rent or sell personal information in exchange for any payment of money.

While Pearson does not sell personal information, as defined in Nevada law, Nevada residents may email a request for no sale of their personal information to NevadaDesignatedRequest@pearson.com.

Supplemental Privacy Statement for California Residents


California residents should read our Supplemental privacy statement for California residents in conjunction with this Privacy Notice. The Supplemental privacy statement for California residents explains Pearson's commitment to comply with California law and applies to personal information of California residents collected in connection with this site and the Services.

Sharing and Disclosure


Pearson may disclose personal information, as follows:

  • As required by law.
  • With the consent of the individual (or their parent, if the individual is a minor)
  • In response to a subpoena, court order or legal process, to the extent permitted or required by law
  • To protect the security and safety of individuals, data, assets and systems, consistent with applicable law
  • In connection the sale, joint venture or other transfer of some or all of its company or assets, subject to the provisions of this Privacy Notice
  • To investigate or address actual or suspected fraud or other illegal activities
  • To exercise its legal rights, including enforcement of the Terms of Use for this site or another contract
  • To affiliated Pearson companies and other companies and organizations who perform work for Pearson and are obligated to protect the privacy of personal information consistent with this Privacy Notice
  • To a school, organization, company or government agency, where Pearson collects or processes the personal information in a school setting or on behalf of such organization, company or government agency.

Links


This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects Personal Information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this web site.

Requests and Contact


Please contact us about this Privacy Notice or if you have any requests or questions relating to the privacy of your personal information.

Changes to this Privacy Notice


We may revise this Privacy Notice through an updated posting. We will identify the effective date of the revision in the posting. Often, updates are made to provide greater clarity or to comply with changes in regulatory requirements. If the updates involve material changes to the collection, protection, use or disclosure of Personal Information, Pearson will provide notice of the change through a conspicuous notice on this site or other appropriate way. Continued use of the site after the effective date of a posted revision evidences acceptance. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns about the Privacy Notice or any objection to any revisions.

Last Update: November 17, 2020