CyberGlossary

Forensics & IR

Incident Response Plan

Also known as: IRP, Cyber incident response plan

Definition

A documented, approved playbook that defines how an organisation prepares for, detects, contains, eradicates, recovers from, and learns from cyber incidents.

An incident response plan (IRP) translates strategy into operational steps. It assigns roles (incident commander, comms lead, legal liaison), defines severity classifications, escalation paths, communication templates, evidence-handling procedures, and external contacts (law enforcement, regulators, retainers). Most IRPs follow the NIST SP 800-61 lifecycle and integrate playbooks for common scenarios (ransomware, BEC, data exfiltration, insider threat). The plan must be tested through tabletop and live-fire exercises, updated after every incident, and accessible offline in case of widespread outage. Regulators such as GDPR, HIPAA, and NIS2 require documented IR capabilities.

Examples

  • A ransomware playbook that triggers isolation, ID/communications hold, and engagement of the IR retainer within 30 minutes.
  • A DPO-led notification workflow for personal data breaches within the GDPR 72-hour deadline.

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