The first step in having effective incident management is to implement Incident Response Planning. This is a wide-reaching area that could cover only critical systems or the entire organisation or require a full Business Continuity Plan. Having a personally tailored plan in advance is an essential part of being able to advantageously diffuse any incident which may arise in the future.

IRM can assist with

• Incident Management; the setup and organisation of internal Incident Response Teams
• Outlining guidelines and procedures for responsive actions based on most common scenarios related to the business
• Providing user training for best practice and containment measures (for example computer virus outbreaks, internal and external intrusion and preserving digital evidence)
• Ensuring that adequate levels of monitoring are available within the organisation including logs and backup storage management

Sometimes after planning has taken place, there may still be a need for an independent third party opinion. This can occur if internal response teams are not available, if specialist skills are limited or for legal and compliance reasons. IRM is in a position to offer this independent advice.