How can you incorporate security incident lessons into escalation procedures?

In my experience, incorporating lessons from security incidents into escalation procedures begins with a thorough identification of the root causes of each incident. This involves analyzing the incident to understand not just what happened, but why it happened. By identifying these underlying factors, you can adjust your escalation procedures to address these specific issues. For example, if a root cause is a lack of quick detection, you might implement more robust monitoring tools or faster communication channels in your escalation process.

Identifying root causes can be challenging. I have seen situations where, due to lack of documentation and lack of will from a DPO as well as lack of technical expertise, the root cause can be hard to identify. Also, the root cause analysis methodology is probably more of a pre-breach/incident than a post one. Something that the AI used to generate the question probably doesn't quite understand. The approach of the EU GDPR and data protection by design can significantly improve the analysis prior, then be refined if and when incidents occur.

Pour moi, dans un RCA, on peut identifier trois types de causes : ⚙️ Physiques — liées aux défaillances matérielles, erreurs système au démarrage, ou problèmes avec des outils défaillants. 🫀 Humaines — résultant d'erreurs humaines telles que manque de compétences, méconnaissance des outils, erreurs de programmation, ou utilisation d'outils inappropriés. 🗂️ Organisationnelles — issues de problèmes administratifs tels que des instructions incorrectes, des choix inappropriés de personnel, ou une gestion inadéquate des ressources humaines.

To incorporate security incident lessons into escalation procedures and identify root causes, follow these steps: Post-Incident Review: Conduct a thorough post-incident review immediately after resolving a security incident. Gather all relevant information, including the incident timeline, actions taken, and outcomes. Identify Root Causes: Analyze the incident to identify its root causes. Look beyond the immediate symptoms to understand the underlying issues that allowed the incident to occur.

Documenting the lessons learnt is indeed a good thing, the challenge is ensuring that someone reads what was documented and management supports the initiative long term. Unfortunately, the trend is superficial training and structured document management for staff training probably a thing of the past.

Utilisez la méthode Five Whys : Elle consiste à poser la question "Pourquoi ?" de manière itérative pour explorer en profondeur les causes d'un incident ou d'un problème. En demandant plusieurs fois "Pourquoi cela s'est-il produit ?", on peut découvrir les différentes couches de causalité et identifier des mesures correctives potentielles. 👉🏼 Pourquoi ? Le serveur n'a pas été mis à jour… 👉🏼 Pourquoi ? Le serveur automatisé est tombé en panne… 👉🏼 Pourquoi ? La personne responsable de l'approbation de la réparation ou du remplacement est en vacances 👉🏼 Pourquoi ? Manque de processus. Etc…

Incorporate a post-incident analysis into your escalation procedures. This involves a comprehensive review of the incident response process, identifying strengths and areas for improvement. By integrating lessons learned directly into your escalation procedures, you create a dynamic and adaptive system that evolves with each security incident. Collaborate with cross-functional teams to gain diverse perspectives, enhancing the effectiveness of your escalation strategies. Regularly validate and rehearse the updated procedures through tabletop exercises, ensuring that your team is well-prepared to execute them seamlessly in the event of a security incident.

I advocate for continuous staff training as a pivotal aspect of incorporating security incident lessons into escalation procedures. Training should be updated regularly to reflect new insights and strategies derived from past incidents. This involves not just theoretical knowledge, but also practical simulations and drills that mimic real-life scenarios. By doing this, employees become more adept at recognizing and responding to security threats, and the escalation procedures become more ingrained in their daily operations.

En formant le personnel sur la façon d’escalader les problèmes, on s’assure qu’ils savent comment obtenir de l’aide lorsque cela est nécessaire. En plus, ça contribue à éviter la propagation d’incidents non résolus en garantissant que les problèmes sont dirigés vers les niveaux appropriés de résolution. En fin de compte, la formation sur les procédures d’escalade renforce la réactivité et la résilience de l’équipe face aux défis.

Continuous improvement is crucial for good incident management and for integrating lessons learned from incident response. The information and alert reporting policy must be considered as guidelines and not as a set of strict rules. We need to check all the time the on-call schedule regularly. Defining smart thresholds for escalation. Define clear processes and appropriate procedures for reporting information. It must be simple and known to all stakeholders(IT, Cyber, etc,) and employees. Incident response processes can be complex with CSIRTs. We must not hesitate to simplify, rationalize and homogenize when possible. Simple and adapted to contexts and constraints is a good start for improvement which must be continuous and controlled.

Doing a post mortem meeting with key stake holders is one of the most crucial parts of the Incident Life Cycle. This is where team members learn from mistakes and grow in knowledge. Also doing a review of lessons learned with team members who were not involved can skill up the team quickly.

Sometimes it can be very challenging, as the fluctuation / turnover could be too high, e.g. there's no one available for further incident handling (within reasonable amount of time needed to successfully handle the incident). This should be addressed by broader organizational changes.