Recovery in the Incident Response Plan

Let’s talk about Recovery from a cybersecurity incident. Recovery is the last part of the third phase of an effective Incident Response Plan. Recovery involves restoring systems and operations back to normal after the threat has been contained and eradicated.

Recovery is more than just turning systems back on. You must ensure that affected systems are fully patched, reconfigured, or even rebuilt to prevent further exploitation. For example, restoring from backups is an important part of recovery. But it’s critical to ensure that those backups are free from malware or other vulnerabilities to avoid reintroducing the threat into your environment.

During Recovery, testing is essential. Before systems and networks go back online, they should be thoroughly tested to confirm that they are fully operational and secure. This minimizes the chances of the same issue recurring.

Recovery also involves careful communication with users and stakeholders. Clear instructions should be provided in your Incident Recover Plan for bringing your systems back online. Any changes in processes or configurations should go through your documented approval process. Baseline configuration documentation should be updated. And the changes must be communicated to the relevant teams. It’s also important to document lessons learned during the incident and incorporate them into your Incident Response Plan for future improvement.

These recovery strategies should be part of your written Incident Response Plan, which is required by regulatory frameworks such as CMMC, HIPAA, and ISO 27001.