Integrating People Security into Incident Response Playbooks

Even the most sophisticated Incident Response (IR) can collapse when the first responder, an employee, does not have an idea of what to do. Generally, organizations lay their focus on investing heavily in monitoring systems, escalation paths, and detection tools. However, they overlook one of the most important key factors: how employees act in the first moments of an incident?

IR playbooks emphasize technical aspects while ignoring employee behavior. It is very rare that they track employee behavior when facing a phishing attempt or any other threat. To develop a true resilience system against cyberattacks, people security in incident response must be recognized. It should be considered measurable, trainable, and become an integral part of the playbooks.

Why Employees Are Your Real First Responders?

No matter how big or small a cyber attack is, it first goes through the human eye. This is why an employee is considered as the first responder in cybersecurity. Usually, it is the employee who spots a phishing email, unusual logins, or any other suspicious activities. 

They have an important job of quickly reporting the incident to the security teams. A small delay from their end can allow attackers to gain ground and might result in hefty data and financial losses.

This is why employee awareness training is a crucial component and must be prioritized to build a robust system against cyberattacks.  Without proper training and knowledge, they are most likely to make errors in judgment, and most probably, the incident is already in motion by the time the SOC reacts.

Common Gaps When People Are Left Out of IR

In the absence of people security in incident response, numerous wide gaps are left open, often noticed by attackers. Without training and guidance, employees are left to guess the right step, causing unnecessary delay in the response chain. Here are the common gaps that emerge when people are left out of IR playbooks:

• Unclear Reporting Channel: Employees are unaware of whom to notify about the incident, resulting in delay and sometimes, altogether ignoring the incident. 

• Fear of Punishment: Many employees do not report because they feel they will be punished for it, or they will be wasting SOC’s time.

• Lack of Urgency: Employees fail to recognize the importance of time when they have no idea how quickly ransomware or phishing attacks take control.
  
• Missed Participation: Organizations often ignore the importance of employee training and place their entire focus on technological advancement. 

Embedding People Security into the IR Lifecycle

Human Risk in IR is often underestimated, despite employees being the first ones to spot an attack. Embedding people security in incident response lifecycle not only makes faster detection possible but also allows timely recovery. 

Preparation: Training for the First Five Minutes

The first thing is to train employees and specify their role in IR. The first five minutes when under an attack are crucial, so employees must know what they are expected to do after detecting a potential threat. 

Detection and Analysis: Building Real-Time Awareness

Train employees’ detection and analysis skills through phishing simulations and social engineering drills. This helps them in early detection and quick reporting according to SoC procedures. 

Containment: Immediate User Actions That Matter

To prevent escalation, employees must be trained to take an immediate and correct course of action, such as disconnecting the network immediately to avoid escalation. 

Eradication and Recovery: Validating Restored Systems

After remediation, employees must help in confirming whether their compromised account, system, or network is restored completely or not. 

Post-Incident: Capturing Employee Feedback

This stage is crucial for gathering feedback. Employees can highlight the confusing points and potential gaps in the incident response playbook. 

Using the AAPE Framework to Integrate People into IR

The AAPE framework keeps humans at the core of defence strategies. It allows their participation in a systematic way and directly involves them in the incident response plan. 

• Assess: Testing Realistic Readiness

Conduct role-specific simulation training to assess the readiness of employees. This helps in knowing how an employee reacts to a threat and deals with it. 

• Aware: Targeted Microlearning for Incident Response

Targeted microlearning modules delivered using engaging modules keep employees aware and informed. For example, when facing a suspicious credential theft, they know whom to report to instantly. 

• Protect: Reducing Exposure Through Safeguards

Even well-trained employees need technical guardrails. Tools such as Threatcop DMARC reduce the number of malicious messages that land in inboxes. This eases the pressure from employees. 

• Empower: Making Reporting Instant and Safe

Employees must feel safe and secure when reporting an incident. By using a one-click reporting tool or TPIR, you empower employees to quickly report. 

Building Measurable People Security Metrics in IR

Metrics enable the CISO to confirm the success of training. When measuring people security in incident response, it helps in quantifying performance, and shows how people impact IR performance.

• Time-to-Report: Document the time taken for an employee to report an incident to the SOC. This is incredibly important because every second matters in a cyber incident. 

• Volume and Accuracy: Track the amount of incidents that are reported by employees, and how many are reported accurately after validation by SOC analysts.

• False Positive Reporting: Track false reporting; it can burden your SOC teams.

• Simulation-to-Real-Incident Performance: Track the simulation outcomes and how they match real-time incidents. This shows the effectiveness of your training, and allows for changes in your simulation training if needed.

Compliance and Audit Benefits of Including People in IR

Incorporating workers into IR playbooks not only assists with resilience, but provides compliance and audit advantages, especially when regulations mandate observable proof of preparedness against human infliction risks, rather than technical controls only.

ISO 27001:2022 requires documented readiness while NIST CSF 2.0 emphasizes detection and response.  This is something that can be demonstrated when the employee is a first responder in the context of cyber security. SOC 2 Type II is performed on operational effectiveness, evidenced by audit trails of employee involvement in training.

Case Example: Before and After People Security Integration

Suppose, at a mid-sized SaaS company, an employee receives an email for billing that looks suspicious. With no clear direction, he/she forwarded to the reporting manager. Due to this, SOC stepped in hours later, and by the time it did, multiple accounts had been compromised. A classical example of unaddressed human risk in IR.

After integrating people security in incident response, the same situation can be handled efficiently. The employee knows what to do and, using TPIR, immediately reports the incident to SOC. They acted on it, and the entire attack was compromised within 15 minutes. 

Getting Started: Steps for InfoSec Managers

It’s not like you need to overhaul your defence strategy completely to integrate humans into IR. Being an InfoSec manager, you can follow the steps to smoothly embed humans into your existing IR playbooks. 

• Map Contributions: Evaluate your existing IR playbook and figure out where employees can contribute efficiently, from reporting suspicious emails to confirming recovery. 

• Run Pilot Drills: Begin with small exercises. For example, run incident report/fake phishing simulations.  This will benefit identifying gaps and known strengths.

• Document Roles: Next, document Responsibilities. All employees should know their level and their respective role when reacting to an incident.

• Refine Continuously: After simulation training, use employee feedback, performance analysis, and adjustments in the playbook. A continuous evaluation and refining of resources will benefit long term efforts.

Conclusion: Turning Employees into an Extension of the SOC

Employees are key to the process of awareness and reporting a threat. Include people security in incident response, to support security and build resilience. By engaging employees from passive observers to active participants, organizations will fill the gap that technology cannot address alone. 

The AAPE frameworks, coupled with TSAT training, training and development via TLMS, and one-click reporting with TPIR, provide employees the means to be the first responder in cybersecurity.