Will Your Cyber Response be Successful Without a Business Continuity Plan?

In 2024, cyberattacks continue to cripple large and small businesses, impacting their operations, finances, and productivity. From sophisticated phishing campaigns to ransomware attacks, the threat landscape for cyber-related incidents is more dangerous than ever and navigating this digital battleground means organizations must fortify their defenses. However, preparedness expands beyond a robust network security program, testing, and training.

Implementing actionable response programs should be apart of every company’s regular operations. Often, companies fail to recognize the criticality of having a synced crisis management structure when responding to cyberattacks. At the forefront is a multi-pronged system of  business continuity plans (BCPs) synced with an incident response plan (IRP), and supported by other response forms, such as an emergency operations plan (EOP). While some may feel that an IRP alone is sufficient in responding to cyber incidents, the scale and magnitude of most cyberattacks have been found to affect businesses operationally. This prompts the most prudent organizations to ensure both of their all-response plans align with each other to result in coverage for a multi-faceted event.

How Can a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) Fortify Your Cybersecurity Defense?

A business continuity plan, positioned as a ‘crisis playbook,’ provides a step-by-step outline in determining the roles, responsibilities, and response, recovery, and restoration methods an organization must undergo – and the associated timing of their function reestablishment – to successfully navigate through a variety of threat-based incidents. Furthermore, a BCP with a dedicated technology component ensures that organizations not only recover their operations but ensure the availability of their data and systems. An effective BCP for a given organization considers the entire lifecycle of any business interruption, such as prevention, preparedness, response and recovery, accounting for the complex aftermath of a business interruption in any capacity or scope.

The Role of an Incident Response Plan (IRP) in Your Cybersecurity Defense

Additionally, an optimal defense to cyberattacks is a separate, individualized plan. An incident response plan serves as a critical component to any organization’s defense. At its core, an IRP is intended to provide a metaphorical ‘roadmap’ for how organizations can detect, respond to, and most importantly, recover from cyber-related incidents. IRPs also outline a systematic approach to handling security-related incidents, necessitating the involvement from various stakeholders within an organization in controlled collaboration. By delineating roles, responsibilities, and response procedures across various internal departments associated with an organization’s cyber functionality, an IRP enables an organization to counteract cyber threats swiftly and decisively. This precautionary, proactive approach is instrumental in forming the computer incident response plan (CIRP) as a pre-threat defense. Exemplary instances of a CIRP minimize the impact of an incident, reduce organizational system downtime, and safeguard sensitive information.

Benefits of Both a BCP & IRP

While these two plan models offer a form of coverage in isolation, they cannot properly defend an organization from a full-scale cyber event individually. By syncing the two, the coverage and security in the defense systems of an organization are more readily assured. It is critical that organizations not only drive their focus on developing a robust IRP, but also a BCP, since both could be activated by an incident.

Cyberattacks, while implicitly falling under the domain of an IRP response due to their threat nature, can affect businesses operationally, which translates into a business continuity event. This is due to ‘cross-involvement’ that it is crucial for organizations to refine their crisis management structure, habitually reexamining the interconnectivity and ease of communication between their various subplans. In a real scenario, all plans need to be equally strong and equally capable of functioning in harmony to ensure quick, efficient, and informed response and recovery capabilities.

As cybersecurity threats continue to make a mark on organizations, are your BCPs and IRPs ready to mitigate the impact? Reach out to a member of Wolf’s Business Continuity Planning team to learn how our trusted experts can provide you with specialized BCP and IRP solutions to ensure your organization is protected.