But simply having these steps mapped out isn’t enough. It’s important to understand what’s involved in each one and then take away lessons that can be applied to preventing or reducing the impact of the next incident.
Recovery is a process that involves restoring systems, validating backups and making certain you mitigate root causes. In the after-action review, you need to analyze what went well, what didn’t and how you can improve going forward. The real value lies not in following the steps once, but in iterating, refining and empowering your team to act when the next incident strikes.
Tabletop Exercises Keep the Team in Shape
In the early 2000s, NBA star Allen Iverson said it best: It’s all about practice. In cybersecurity, this means conducting tabletop exercises that build muscle memory for when a real incident strikes. You can’t wait for game day to figure out if your processes, people and technology actually work the way they’re designed to.
READ MORE: What cybersecurity solutions are right for your university?
My favorite tabletop exercises are those that include everyone — both technical and nontechnical team members. When you get teams that don’t usually communicate on a day-to-day basis in one room, it’s easy to see where the gaps are. Incident response will only become a reflexive action if everyone knows their role when it counts. Working out your differences as a unified team fosters collaboration and results in faster, more decisive choices under pressure.
Know How to Use Your Security Tools for Maximum Impact
Simply purchasing security tools does not mean your environment is automatically secure. You can invest in the shiniest new security tools, but unless they are properly configured and tuned, they’re not operating at their full potential. For example, I’ve seen countless instances where an endpoint detection and response solution was deployed without any of its functions turned on.
We’re now seeing artificial intelligence and machine learning play bigger roles in reducing false positives, identifying abnormal network behavior and automating mundane but critical response actions. However, these tools must be trained to understand what your institution’s “normal” looks like. Without a baseline understanding of typical traffic and user activity, they could flag everything — or nothing — as a threat.
No campus is immune from cyberthreats. But by building well-practiced response teams and leveraging technology thoughtfully, you can skew the odds in your favor. Mastering incident response isn’t about ticking boxes on a checklist. It’s about preparation, collaboration and a willingness to learn from every experience.
