Security incidents don't follow a script. Be prepared for many possible scenarios that can lead to detection of a breach, and have a plan in place for a thorough investigation. In many cases, following through on seemingly routine operational problems can detect security incidents early. Policies defining proper logging and alerting procedures, methods to provide insight to network events, and vigilant response by security and on-call staff are a must for all companies. The time to implement tools like data loss prevention or define a risk management framework is before you need them.
Cutting corners, or budget, in areas related to incident response is easy to do. But we've seen many companies pay dearly for these cuts when an attack happens and teams lack investigative insight and tools, and thus are unable to determine what occurred. Properly equipped, staffed, and trained incident responsive teams will resolve incidents faster and more thoroughly, and could save millions.
Accept that mistakes will be made, either before the investigation or during the process of finding the root cause of the incident, determining the severity, and stopping the compromise of systems and data. After the incident is concluded, do a postmortem. Use errors to improve your processes and identify new tactics that could have averted problems, because if there's one sure thing in security, it's that the next potential attack is on the horizon.
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