**Top 7 Reasons Incident Response Plans Fail**

The best-laid plans of mice and men can go awry, even in the world of cybersecurity. A survey of 1,700 IT and engineering professionals by New Relic found that high-impact IT outages now carry a median cost of $2 million per hour, or roughly $33,000 every minute. The consequences can be ugly, with losses averaging $76 million per organization.

When incident response plans fail to work as intended, the reasons can be complex and varied. Causes range from gaps in team coordination, unanticipated system failures, inadequate threat intelligence, and attackers exploiting previously unknown vulnerabilities. Security analysts pointed to several likely culprits for incident response plan failures.

Poorly Written Plans

Incident response plans that are poorly written or overly technical can stymie incident response efforts. "Some plans I've seen become overly technical and are out of date the moment they're completed," said Daniel Kennedy, an analyst at S&P Global Market Intelligence.

A key challenge is developing incident response plans that work under pressure by clearly defining who does what. Plans must be technical enough to guide actions but clear enough that responders understand their roles.

Senior Management Interference

Bad things can happen when no one knows who's in charge or what they're supposed to do during an incident. "Teams know exactly who can authorize network isolation, system shutdowns, or external communications without waiting for executive approval during critical moments," said Mari DeGrazia, certified SANS instructor and director of incident response at IDX.

However, when senior managers without clearly defined incident response roles insert themselves into active incident response, overriding established procedures and previously agreed-upon response steps, it can derail an entire response process.

Lack of Essential Tools and Resources

Incident response plans frequently assume access to tools and technologies that may not be properly configured, maintained, or accessible during an actual incident. This includes backup systems that haven't been tested, monitoring tools with gaps in coverage, or communication systems that become unavailable during the incident.

Inadequate Training and Testing

Incident response plans are structured around methodical, step-by-step processes with time for analysis and deliberation. However, actual incidents compress decision-making timeframes to minutes rather than hours, while simultaneously overwhelming responders with information from multiple sources.

"Teams find themselves making critical containment decisions with incomplete information while managing dozens of parallel activities – a cognitive load that most plans fail to anticipate or prepare teams to handle," DeGrazia said.

Insufficient Cross-Functional Input

A lack of cross-functional input during the development of incident response plans can lead to failures. Plans are often created in silos, typically by the security team, without proper input from legal, IT infrastructure, the help desk, or other key stakeholders.

Unrealistic Assumptions

Incident response plans often assume ideal conditions, such as key personnel being always available and systems working as expected. However, reality delivers the opposite – incidents typically occur during weekends, holidays, or when key team members are unavailable.

Lack of Awareness and Communication

The security team might know a plan exists, but others in the organization don't. If the people who are supposed to execute the plan aren't familiar with it – or don't even know it exists – it's unlikely to be effective.

A sudden cybersecurity event forces incident response teams to make high-impact decisions under intense pressure and tight time constraints. In the heat of the moment, this might cause risk aversion. "People may hesitate to act because they don't want to be held responsible for making the wrong call," DeGrazia said.

Conclusion

In conclusion, incident response plans that fail or don't work as intended can have severe consequences, including high costs, prolonged downtime, regulatory penalties, and reputational damage. The top 7 reasons incident response plans fail include poorly written plans, senior management interference, lack of essential tools and resources, inadequate training and testing, insufficient cross-functional input, unrealistic assumptions, and lack of awareness and communication.

To prevent human error and ensure effective incident response, it is critical to have a clear incident response plan, ensure team members receive proper training on it, and conduct regular tabletop exercises and penetration testing. With the right plan in place, organizations can bring order and calm so teams can react when the pressure is on and the stakes are high.

**Jaikumar Vijayan is a freelance technology journalist with more than 20 years of award-winning experience in IT trade journalism, specializing in information security, data privacy, and cybersecurity topics.**