All About Incident Response Platforms

Let's begin with the magnificent world of Hogwarts!

Whenever there was some unintentional magical damage in Hogwarts, the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes was responsible for coping with it. Whenever magic spells went wrong, they were responsible for looking after the clean-up and assessing the damage caused.

In the same way, there are some cyber threats and anomalies caused by the you-know-who's of the Muggle world. Incident Response Platforms (IRPs) are used to automate responses against such threats and combat security breaches using pre-planned measures. The automated tasks employed by Incident Response Platforms could include threat hunting, anomaly detection and real-time threat response. Incident Response Platforms (IRPs) also generate incident reports for analysis, in case there is a breach. These platforms record user actions associated with detected threats, store all captured data in a searchable central repository for auditing purposes and generate reports based on pre-defined rules. Super-cool, right!

Let's head to the next section and explore more about these platforms.
 

What Are Incident Response Platforms?

Failure of magic tricks, spells and potions was one of the major concerns in the Hogwarts; nevertheless, the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes has always been there to combat them. Likewise, cybercrime is a growing concern for businesses around the world. Don't you believe us? Hear it from Statista. Nearly 71% of global internet users have fallen victim to some form of cybercrime, according to recent statistics from Statista and other cybersecurity experts, making it a pressing issue for businesses worldwide. However, the good news is there are many ways in which companies can protect themselves against cyber threats. Advanced Incident Response Platforms are one such way.

Just like the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes was part of the Ministry of Magic, Incident Response Platforms are part of security orchestration and response tooling. These platforms enable users to have live information at their fingertips and limit the impact of security threats and risks. This includes around-the-clock threat monitoring, detection and targeted response, strengthened by real-time log analytics for investigation and threat hunting. An ideal Incident Response Platform combines threat intelligence and human expertise for advanced analytics and accurate contextualization of the events. However, like every other technology, Incident Response Platforms evolved with time.

Head on to the next section and figure it out!
 

A Brief History Of Incident Response Platforms

 
Here's a timeline of Incident Response Platforms:

It was 1988 when Robert Tappan Morris released the first Internet worm alias, the Morris Worm and it opened the gates for the Dementors of the cyber world. The Morris Worm unleashed the first large-scale denial-of-service (DoS) attack on the Internet, impacting 10 percent (roughly 6000 back then) of computers in the world! Considering the challenges paved the way for the formation of the Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Center, AKA CERT/CC, by DARPA (Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency) in 1988. The goal of this organization was to be the central hub for communicating and collaborating on responses to incidents and security threats. So, kids, that’s how the concept of incident threat response came into existence.
 
Moving ahead, the 1990s saw the entry of the not-so-lovable ILOVEYOU and the Melissa viruses that infected tens of millions of PCs! Just then, antivirus technology emerged as a shield to protect users from such threats. Cyber-attacks became more targeted during the 2000s and the first data breach of credit card numbers was a red alert for things to come. That brings us to the present era, where cybercrime and incidents have become much more sophisticated and getting completely rid of them is next to impossible. However, Incident Response Platforms have surfaced as one of the effective measures helping businesses control how they manage the aftermath and are prepared for the process of response.
 
Really? How? What’s the exact process of Incident Response Platforms? We agree that the term ‘process’ may sound a bit technical but fret not we have decoded it in a pretty simple way.
 

Process Of Incident Response Platforms

No more mumbo-jumbo; let’s reveal the process of these platforms.
 

• Step 1: Collaboration

  Let's assume Ron Weasley misspelled a spell and created a blunder in the potions class. Classic Ron! The news reaches Prof. McGonagall and she assigns someone from the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes to handle this case. Now, they will collaborate with the professor present in the potion class, conduct detection and analysis to eradicate the effects of the bad spell. In the same way, Incident Response Platforms share incident data and coordinate to build a response plan. These platforms use a unified interface to provide seamless access and collaboration to enable incident handling, vulnerability management and change management.

   

• Step 2: Streamlining Detection And Analysis

  Now, the investigator from the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes will analyze the whole situation just like Incident Response Platforms do by gathering all the data and information, analyzing it and regulating a course of action. These platforms automatically execute the required preventive measures to quicken the analysis and mimic the response practices of your security team.

• Step 3: Instant Eradication And Recovery

  Speed and recovery are a must for containing, eradicating and recovering IT systems – just like in Quidditch.  Incident Response Platforms enhance the efficiency of IT teams by saving time during incident response phases and threat detection by facilitating your team with all the data in a centralized interface.

Now that we're done dissecting the process of these platforms, let's look at their benefits. Are you ready?  

Benefits Of Incident Response Platforms

We wish the damage caused by incident threats could be repaired simply by spelling Reparifors but unfortunately, we live in a reality where spells of Hogwarts are no help. However, fortunately, we have Incident Response Platforms that are no less than those astounding spells for enterprises! Here are all the excellent benefits that Incident Response Platforms offer!
 

• Instant Mitigation

  An Incident Response Platform includes measures that help employees detach affected areas and recovery systems to be put in place. A delay in response will eventually give more passage to the you-know-who’s for gathering even more sensitive data and infecting more systems with malware. These platforms benefit organizations with quick mitigation so that there's no chance of further damage.

• Organized Approach

  Predicting incidents is as impossible as predicting the entry of Voldemort into Hogwarts. No matter how strong the walls are and how well protected the organization is, unforeseen incidents can catch any organization off-guard. By implementing an Incident Response Platform, you are equipped to combat such attacks. This platform also enables you to utilize manpower, tools and resources to combat the issue effectively and minimize its impact.

• Robust Security And Trust

  Incident Response Platforms not only tackle the current incidents but also ensure that such risks don't arise in the future. These platforms also analyze the existing measures, systems, weaknesses and vulnerabilities. Furthermore, it is no secret that stakeholders and business partners would want to work with a fully secured organization. So, just like Bertie Bott’s dual-flavored beans, first that your organization is fully secured and second, you earn the trust of your partners and stakeholders.

That was all about the past and present of Incident Response Platform; the next section unleashes its future! Get, set, go!
 

The Future Of Incident Response Platforms

Here’s a thing or two about the brilliant future of Incident Response Platforms:

Make some way for decentralization! You see, business stakeholders want updates about incident metrics like mean time to resolve and mean time to acknowledge. They deserve to get clear incident updates, incident reports and remediation work, don't they? Guess what! Decentralization and team autonomy combined with an Incident Response Platform will play a key role here, by keeping the incident resolution agile and business stakeholders in the loop.

The next breakthrough in the context of Incident Response Platforms is threat intelligence integration! The collective knowledge of the cybersecurity industry will be a win-win for security analysts as threat intelligence integration is here to help you with that. It will collect and share the latest updates on known cybersecurity threats. Sounds enticing, right?
 

Let’s Call It A Wrap!

 
There is no doubt that the threat landscape is changing and with it, how we respond to security incidents is also transforming. Organizations are facing an increasing number of sophisticated attacks, which are also becoming less frequent but more damaging. In order to effectively manage security incidents, security teams need to adopt Incident Response Platforms that enable them to streamline incident response processes and optimize the performance of their security operations center (SOC).