Discuss the Different Phases of Incident Response Cycle (Essay Sample)

Incident Response Cycle
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Incident Response Cycle
An incident response cycle entails phases in which security breach or attack is addressed and managed in a given organization through a step-to-step process. The objective of the response cycle is to address the incident in a manner that minimizes damage and lowers recover expenses, as well as time (Lucas & Moeller, 2004).
There are six phases in the incident response cycle. (1) Preparation phase; it entails training and educating users and information technology (IT) personnel on the significance of the security measures and how to respond to security incidents. (2) Identification phase; this phase involves identification of potential incidents by activating the response team to make a decision on whether an explicit event is a security incident. The response team will look at indicators and signs of possible incidents from operating systems, network flows, AV gateways among others (Lucas & Moeller, 2004). They may notify external parties or appropriate persons. (3) Containment phase; the response team ascertains the magnitude of the incident and contains it by disconnecting all the devices along with systems that have been affected to evade more harm. This can include blocking access to firewalls or updating antivirus rules. (4) Eradication phase; this involves removing the cause of the problem, for instance, removing the malicious code or unauthorized account that resulted in the incident. (5) Recovery phase; the data and software are restored back from uninfected back-up files. The systems are ensured that it meets the organization’s security standards. The systems will constantly be monitored for any sign of vulnerability and recurrence. (6) Lesson learned phase; follow-up action is paramount. The response team analyzes the specific security incidence and the way it was addressed, making suggestions for future response (Schultz & Shumway, 2001).
In incident response cycle, there is ...