A security breach happens sooner or later in every company. Organizations unprepared for this panic, lose time, and often only make the situation worse. In contrast, companies with a pre-developed Incident Response Plan take control of the situation and minimize damage. An IR plan is not just a document but an important indicator of a company's security maturity.
Six stages of the NIST IR process
The NIST Special Publication 800-61 standard divides the incident response process into six stages, and this approach is accepted as a standard worldwide. The first stage is preparation, where the team is formed, tools are prepared, and policies are developed. The second stage is detection and analysis, when monitoring systems record the incident. The third stage is containment, where the spread of damage is stopped. The fourth stage is eradication, the fifth is recovery, and the sixth is lessons learned, ensuring each incident provides material for improvement.
Team and roles
The response team, known as CSIRT or CERT, must consist of various specialists. The incident commander manages the entire process and makes decisions. Technical analysts examine logs and traffic to determine the nature of the attack. A communications specialist handles dialogue with clients, media, and regulators. A legal advisor evaluates legal consequences and mandatory notifications. In large companies, a dedicated SOC operates around the clock and handles incidents on the first line.
Tabletop exercises and simulations
An IR plan may look great on paper, but in practice it can fall apart immediately. That is exactly why conducting regular tabletop exercises is critically important. A tabletop exercise is a theoretical scenario in which team members discuss the attack response process in real time. More advanced companies conduct red team simulations, where specialists acting as real attackers attack the system. These exercises help identify gaps in the IR plan.
Sayt.uz practice
The Sayt.uz security team conducts IR exercises quarterly and simulates attack scenarios. The automated playbook system deployed in 2024 reduced response time to typical incidents from 47 minutes to 6 minutes. The basic hosting plan from 95,000 soums includes client incident notification and technical support services. For corporate clients, a special IR retainer service is offered from 3,200,000 soums, under which an expert team arrives on-site within 24 hours. In 2024, the system successfully handled 1,247 security incidents, and 99.2 percent of them did not affect customer data.