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Incident Response Plan

5 minutes 5 Questions

An incident response plan is a documented and structured set of guidelines and procedures that helps organizations prepare, detect, respond, and recover from security incidents. The plan includes roles and responsibilities of the Incident Response Team members, the scope of incidents covered, communication protocols, escalation paths, and steps for containment, eradication, and system recovery. The plan should align with the organization's business objectives, risk appetite, and legal and regulatory requirements. Periodic testing and updating of the incident response plan are essential to ensure its effectiveness in the face of evolving threats and organizational changes. Regular training and awareness programs for employees should also be part of the strategy to encourage timely incident reporting.

Guide: Incident Response Plan

Why it is important:
An Incident Response Plan (IRP) is crucial because it outlines how an organization will respond to potential security threats, hence minimizing risk, damage & recovery time.

What it is:
An IRP is a set of instructions that an organization follows in the event of a security breach or cyberattack.

How it works:
A standard IRP usually includes steps such as identification, containment, eradication, recovery, and lessons learned with proper documentation of each step.

Answering questions on Incident Response Plan in an exam: The key to answering questions about an IRP on an exam is understanding its structure and purpose. Understanding the individual steps and why they're implemented provides a strong basis for responding to exam questions.

Exam Tips:
Typically, IRP questions will cover scenarios where you'll need to apply the individual steps. Being able to identify the incident, strategize on how to contain it, eradicate the threat, recover normal operations, and learn lessons for future prevention is important for answering these questions successfully.

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CISSP - Security Incident Response and Recovery Example Questions

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Question 1

An employee received an email claiming to be from the company's CEO, asking for sensitive information. When the incident response team identified it as a phishing attempt, what should be done to ensure an effective response?

Correct Answer: Notify affected employees, analyze the email, and provide guidance on how to handle similar situations.

An effective response involves notifying affected employees, analyzing the email to identify the attacker's tactics, and providing guidance on recognizing and responding to similar incidents. Blocking the sender might not be effective, as attackers often change addresses. The other answers do not address the problem or may harm employee morale.

Question 2

An organization wishes to avoid frequent security incidents resulting from misconfigured security devices. Which proactive measure can be included in the Incident Response Plan to help reduce the likelihood of such incidents?

Correct Answer: Conduct regular audit reviews and vulnerability assessments.

Conducting regular audit reviews and vulnerability assessments helps to identify misconfigurations in security devices and proactively fix them. The other options may not address the issue of misconfigurations directly or may focus on irrelevant factors that don't address the core problem.

Question 3

Which of the following is a critical element to include in an Incident Response Plan to ensure effective handling of Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs)?

Correct Answer: Continuous monitoring and threat intelligence integration

The best answer for effectively handling Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) in an Incident Response Plan is 'Continuous monitoring and threat intelligence integration.'

APTs are sophisticated, long-term attacks that require constant vigilance and up-to-date information to detect and mitigate. Continuous monitoring allows for real-time detection of suspicious activities, while threat intelligence integration provides crucial context and insights about emerging threats and attack patterns.

This approach enables organizations to:
1. Detect APT activities early in the attack lifecycle
2. Respond quickly to potential threats
3. Adapt defenses based on current threat landscapes
4. Improve overall incident response capabilities

While the other options are important security practices, they are less critical for specifically addressing APTs:

Periodic system backups and data restoration procedures are important for business continuity but do not directly address APT detection or response.

Annual security awareness training is valuable but insufficient for combating the dynamic nature of APTs, which require ongoing vigilance and updated knowledge.

Multi-factor authentication is a strong security control but focuses on prevention rather than the detection and response aspects crucial for managing APTs.

In conclusion, continuous monitoring and threat intelligence integration provide the most comprehensive and dynamic approach to handling APTs within an Incident Response Plan.

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