How to Build a Robust Cyber Incident Response Strategy in 2025?

Cyber attacks today are faster, smarter, and far more disruptive than ever before. From ransomware and phishing scams to insider threats and supply chain compromises— a new cyber attack makes news almost every day.

Also worth noting is the fact that cyber incidents are no longer rare, nor are they limited to large enterprises. Every business, regardless of size or sector, is a potential target. And when an attack strikes, it’s not just about your resources or team size. It’s about how swiftly and effectively you can respond.

That’s where Cyber Incident Planning and Response (CIPR) comes into play. It’s your organisation’s only chance for handling the chaos. Without pre-defined steps for response and clarity on who does what and when, chances of a cyber attack ravaging your business are very high.

But many businesses still treat incident response as an afterthought, something to deal with after the breach has occurred. The reality is: by then, it’s already too late.

In this article, we unpack what Cyber Incident Planning and Response really means in practical terms. We’ll walk you through the key components of a strong Cyber Incident Response Plan, the best practices for building one, and the common mistakes that could derail even the most well-intentioned efforts.

Whether you're starting from scratch or looking to fine-tune your existing strategy, this guide will help you build a response capability that’s not just compliant, but truly resilient.

What is Cyber Incident Planning and Response?

Cyber Incident Planning and Response is the structured approach that organisations take to prepare for, detect, respond to, and recover from cyber incidents.

The objective behind Cyber Incident Response Planning is simply to minimise damage.  The goal is to ensure a swift return to business as usual. A good Cyber Incident Response strategy leads to minimal chaos in the event of a security incident. Every stakeholder and business leader is prepared with well-rehearsed responses on what to do next.

This also reduces legal and financial fallout. Most importantly, it helps you secure the trust of your customers by demonstrating that you take the sanctity of their data and personal information seriously.

The first step in consolidating a robust cyber resilience strategy is to build a robust Cyber Incident Response Plan. In the next section, we look at the details of what this Plan should be and what it should contain.

What is a Cyber Incident Response Plan?

A Cyber Incident Response Plan serves as a critical component of a broader cybersecurity strategy. As we discussed earlier, it enables your business to minimise the impact of an incident and maintain business continuity. But what does it really entail?

A robust incident response plan clearly defines roles and responsibilities across departments in the event of a cybersecurity incident. Its critical components, as per NIST guidance, include:

Preparation: Establishing policies. Defining roles and responsibilities. Identifying resources needed for incident response. Forming a trained incident response team. 

Identification: Defining procedures for detecting and validating potential security incidents. 

Containment: Implementing strategies to limit the spread and impact of the incident. Examples include isolating affected systems and removing persistent threats. 

Eradication: Steps for eliminating the root cause of the incident. Steps may include deleting malicious files, disabling breached accounts, and patching vulnerabilities. 

Recovery: How to restore affected systems and services to normal operations. Steps to ensure that they are free from threats before reintegrating into the network. 

Communication and Escalation Procedures: Outlining internal and external communication protocols. Steps for legal and regulatory disclosures. Media handling protocols.  

Roles and Responsibilities: Clearly defining who is responsible for which actions during each phase of the incident lifecycle. The roles of all departments including IT, HR, Legal, PR, and Executives must be outlined.

Documentation and Evidence Handling: Maintaining accurate logs and records of all actions taken for legal and forensic purposes.  

Post-Incident Review (Lessons Learned): Conducting a thorough debrief after the incident to evaluate the response process. Identifying improvement areas and updating the response plan accordingly. 

Regular Testing and Updating: Conducting regular cyber tabletop exercises to test the effectiveness of the incident response plan. Updating the plan regularly based on the outcomes and observations during the cyber drill.

Remember, a good Cyber Incident Response Plan should align with established frameworks like NIST or ISO 27035. It should also include clearly defined incident categories based on severity levels. Last but not the least, an Incident Response Plan should always be complemented  by predefined Incident Response Playbooks tailored to different attack scenarios.

Common Mistakes to Avoid in Cyber Incident Response

Now we have a fairly clear understanding of what constitutes Incident Response and a good Cyber Incident Response Plan. But it’s important to remember that even the best-intentioned cyber incident response plans can fall short if common pitfalls are not addressed.

Here are some of the most frequent mistakes organisations make during cyber incident response that can severely hamper recovery efforts:

Relying solely on IT or cybersecurity teams to handle everything: Remember that cyber incident response is an organisational responsibility. Overwhelmed by sophisticated threats and finite resources, IT can't cover everything from human error to process flaws. Good Cyber Incident Response requires a collective contribution from every employee and department to protect digital assets. 

Lack of clearly defined communication protocols: Poorly defined communication protocols cause misunderstandings and delayed decision-making. Without guidelines for information flow, internal and external communications become haphazard. Communication is critical when managing a cyber crisis, especially as it involves informing customers, the media and regulatory authorities on time.  

No playbooks or guidance documents tailored to specific incident types: A lack of tailored playbooks for various incident types can create a huge gap in your incident response strategy. Generic crisis plans are insufficient. A ransomware attack, for example, differs vastly from a human error related cyber incident. Without detailed guidance and tailored playbooks, you won’t have step-by-step procedures, roles, contacts, and communication templates for the crisis in question. This can lead to inconsistency and chaos under pressure. 

Failure to test response plans through cyber tabletop exercises: Neglecting testing your plans via tabletop exercises can leave you in a very vulnerable position. These cyber attack simulations reveal weaknesses in your IR plans and uncover the ability of each team member to execute their roles and responsibilities effectively.

Rehearsing your plans is critical to make them a part of the Incident Response team’s muscle memory. Theoretical knowledge fails in emergencies. Regular, realistic exercises are vital for resilient cyber defence.

Final Thoughts

As cyber attacks become more brazen and sophisticated, cyber incident response planning must evolve from a static document into a living, tested, and organisation-wide capability. Businesses that still view cybersecurity as a technical problem are dangerously unprepared.

Equip your teams with the knowledge, confidence, and coordination they need to handle the next cyber crisis with precision and calm. Explore Cyber Management Alliance’s UK NCSC Assured Cyber Incident Planning and Response Training.

Designed for IT, HR, PR, Legal, Compliance, and senior management, this training is non-technical and valuable for everyone invested in organisational cyber resilience. It's practical and is based on real breach simulations and case studies.

Delivered by the world's leading trainer in Cyber Incident Response, past participants of this training have regularly reported faster decision-making, better internal collaboration, and reduced response time during actual incidents.

About Cyber Management Alliance

Headquartered in London UK, Cyber Management Alliance Ltd. is a world leader in cybersecurity consultancy and training. Over the last 10 years, we have been a trusted partner for small businesses worldwide, helping them enhance their cybersecurity posture through practical, high-impact training and cyber attack simulation exercises.

Our training workshops and services simplify complex cyber concepts, enabling leaders to make informed decisions during a crisis. Our hands-on cyber drills and tabletop exercises simulate real-world attack scenarios, empowering internal teams to respond with clarity, speed, and confidence.

By demystifying cybersecurity and embedding resilience across all organisational levels, Cyber Management Alliance equips small businesses with the tools they need to protect their operations, reputation, and customer trust.