Step 8 of President Obama’s 10-point action plan is:
Prepare a cybersecurity incident response plan; initiate a dialog to enhance public-private partnerships with an eye toward streamlining, aligning, and providing resources to optimize their contribution and engagement.
Keywords in Step 8 include: Prepare, Initiate, Dialog, Partnership, Streamlining, Aligning, Optimize.
Preparing an incident response plan is a great idea and can play a critical role in the success of a cybersecurity action plan, however a lot organizations have incident response plans that are not producing much if any feedback.
Why are traditional response plans not working?
Problems with traditional incident response plans lack anonymity on the front-end and they lack innovative tools to manage Dialog, Partnerships, Streamlining, Aligning and Optimizing on the back-end. As incident response incidents become more sophisticated, more sensitive and more regulated by federal and state mandates, organizations will need more innovative tools to manage the entire incident reporting and response process while also building trust and ensuring confidentiality.
Lessons Learned include the DOJ incident where human error exposed the email addresses of approximately 150 employees who had used a House Judiciary Committee whistleblower website to submit tips about “alleged politicization” at DOJ.
I hope the incident response plan that the new Cybersecurity Adviser prepares is more like Awareity’s new incident reporting services and not just another toll free telephone number that is blasted out in a national public awareness campaign or printed on bumper stickers.
Awareity’s next generation incident reporting solutions are coming soon…stay tuned!