Regrettably, cyber security incidents have become a norm; organizations that have not been breached already
will surely be breached in the future. We live in an age where cyber breaches are inevitable, and one in every
two organizations compromised will experience business impact resulting in financial loss. It is clear that the
way an organization prepares for, responds to, and learns from cyber security incidents governs its level of
business resilience against cyberattacks
A well-prepared, well-adapted Incident Response Plan reduces the extent of business impact and financial
loss on the organization. It also limits damage to the company brand and maintains client confidence. An
appropriate response by an organization to an incident will, in fact, increase its reputation and boost client
and investor confidence.
An organization’s level of maturity and preparedness to respond to incidents must be measurable. Before
investment can be made by the business to improve its level of resilience, all identified gaps must be
prioritized, assessed, and quantified appropriately.
Setting a benchmark for Incident Response that’s risk driven and then assessing the organization against that
benchmark is thus the first step towards understanding where gaps exist. Consequently, as part of an
overarching cyber security maturity program, organizations must first understand their current level of
readiness before implementing strategies to enhance their level of cyber resilience.
