Incident response playbooks: Turning theoretical plans into effective real-life responses

Most organisations take pride in their Incident Response (IR) playbooks, which are often stored neatly on shared drives or in binders, ready for emergencies. However, when a real breach occurs, these meticulously crafted documents frequently fall short. Phone numbers may be outdated, escalation paths unclear, and team roles uncertain. In the midst of an active incident, playbooks that have never been stress-tested can lead to confusion, allowing malicious actors more time to exploit the network. For Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs), such failures can be costly, as lost time, poor communication, and disjointed responses can escalate a manageable incident into a full-blown crisis.

The true challenge lies not in writing a playbook but in ensuring its effectiveness. This requires treating the playbook as a living document rather than a relic of past compliance efforts. Threats evolve rapidly, and static plans quickly become irrelevant. Ransomware, supply chain attacks, and cloud breaches each necessitate distinct responses. A playbook created three years ago for desktop malware is inadequate in the current landscape of increasing AI threats and nation-state intrusions. Regular testing, including tabletop exercises where executives and technical teams simulate incidents, is essential to uncover gaps that no document can reveal.