Mastering Cyber Incident Response from Detection to Recovery
You’re under pressure. Threats are evolving faster than your playbook. Every alert could be the one that brings operations to a halt, triggers regulatory fines, or damages your organisation’s reputation. You need clarity. You need confidence. You need a system that works - not tomorrow, but when the next incident hits. Right now, you might feel reactive. Overwhelmed by logs, alerts, and ambiguous protocols. Maybe you’ve followed fragmented guides or outdated frameworks that don’t translate to real-world response. You’re expected to lead under fire, but without the structured methodology to do it decisively. Mastering Cyber Incident Response from Detection to Recovery is the only program designed to take you from uncertainty to operational mastery in one focused journey. This is not theory. This is battle-tested incident response, distilled into a repeatable, scalable process that aligns with NIST, MITRE ATT&CK, and ISO 27035 standards - so you can act with precision, authority, and speed. One security analyst at a Fortune 500 financial institution used this methodology during a live ransomware event, reducing containment time from 72 hours to under 9 using the exact triage checklist and escalation sequences taught in Module 4. Another former student, now Senior IR Lead at a global tech firm, credited this course for helping her build a fully documented, audit-ready response framework in under 3 weeks - a framework later praised during a regulatory review. This course delivers one powerful outcome: You will go from detection to recovery with a structured, repeatable, board-ready incident response process in 30 days or less - complete with documentation, stakeholder communication templates, and forensic readiness. Here’s how this course is structured to help you get there.Course Format & Delivery Details Your time is critical. This course is built for professionals who lead during high-stakes events. There are no rigid schedules, no live sessions to miss, no guesswork about access. This is a self-paced, on-demand learning experience with immediate online access the moment you enrol. You progress at your own speed, on your own schedule, across any device. Everything You Need to Succeed - Delivered with Maximum Flexibility
- Complete the entire course in as little as 15–20 hours, with most learners implementing core components within the first 7 days.
- Receive lifetime access to all materials, including future updates and enhancements - at no additional cost.
- Access your learning portal 24/7 from anywhere in the world. Fully mobile-friendly, so you can review playbooks during travel or between incidents.
- Follow structured progress tracking to stay focused and measure mastery at each stage.
- Interact with step-by-step implementation guides, real-world case walkthroughs, and embedded decision trees that reflect live breach scenarios.
- Receive direct instructor support through a dedicated response channel, where certified cyber professionals review your incident playbooks, escalation flows, and response documentation with actionable feedback.
Global Recognition, Zero Risk
Upon completion, you will earn a verifiable Certificate of Completion issued by The Art of Service - a globally recognised credential demonstrating mastery in end-to-end incident response. Organisations across finance, healthcare, government, and tech recognise The Art of Service credentials for their practical rigour and alignment with industry standards. This course has straightforward pricing with no hidden fees. You pay once. You get everything. You keep it for life. We accept all major payment methods: Visa, Mastercard, and PayPal. Your investment is protected by our 100% satisfied or refunded guarantee. If you complete the first three modules and don’t believe you’ve gained actionable, career-advancing value, contact us for a full refund - no questions asked. We understand the biggest objection: “Will this work for me?” Whether you’re a junior security analyst, a SOC team lead, a compliance officer, or an IT manager pulled into incident handling, this course adapts to your real-world context. The frameworks are modular. The templates are customisable. The workflows integrate cleanly into existing security operations. This works even if: You don’t have a dedicated incident response team. Even if you’ve never led a full breach investigation. Even if your organisation lacks formal IR policies. The structured yet flexible architecture of this course ensures you build a response capability that fits your environment - not the other way around. After enrolling, you’ll receive a confirmation email. Once your course materials are prepared, your access details will be sent separately, giving you time to plan your learning journey without pressure. You’re not just gaining knowledge. You’re gaining a career-defining capability with zero long-term risk.
Module 1: Foundations of Cyber Incident Response - Defining cyber incidents: scope, severity, and classification
- Understanding the incident lifecycle: preparation to post-incident review
- Role of IR in overall cybersecurity strategy
- Key regulatory requirements impacting incident response (GDPR, HIPAA, PCI-DSS)
- Aligning IR with business continuity and disaster recovery plans
- Core responsibilities of an incident responder
- Common pitfalls in early-stage incident handling
- Differentiating between security events, alerts, and confirmed incidents
- Establishing baseline network and system behaviours
- Threat landscape overview: ransomware, APTs, insider threats, supply chain attacks
- Introduction to NIST SP 800-61 Rev. 2 framework
- Overview of ISO/IEC 27035 standards for IR
- MITRE ATT&CK framework: practical applications for detection and response
- Building the case for formalised incident response to leadership
- Creating executive summaries for non-technical stakeholders
Module 2: Building Your Incident Response Team and Playbook - Defining core IR roles: CSIRT structure and accountability
- Internal vs. external team members: when to engage third parties
- Drafting an IR charter with authority and access mandates
- Developing communication protocols during incidents
- Creating contact trees for technical, legal, PR, and executive teams
- Writing clear escalation procedures by incident type
- Designing response playbooks for common scenarios (ransomware, data exfiltration, brute force)
- Version control and change management for IR documentation
- Integrating IR playbooks with SIEM and SOAR systems
- Role-based training requirements for team members
- Tabletop exercise planning and facilitation
- Legal and compliance considerations in team formation
- Principles of chain of custody in digital evidence handling
- Handling jurisdictional and cross-border incident implications
- Creating a global incident response coordination model
Module 3: Detection and Triage Strategies - Designing detection rules based on adversary tactics
- Analysing SIEM alerts for false positives and true positives
- Using log sources effectively: firewall, endpoint, DNS, authentication
- Triage frameworks: EDR, network telemetry, and asset criticality
- Establishing incident severity scoring (CVSS, internal risk tiers)
- Developing time-critical triage checklists
- Initial evidence preservation steps upon detection
- Containment decision frameworks: cold vs. warm investigation
- Engaging stakeholders early: when and how to escalate
- Creating standard intake forms for incident reporting
- Automating initial triage with rule-based workflows
- Integrating threat intelligence into detection logic
- Using YARA and Sigma rules for pattern matching
- Detecting lateral movement through log correlation
- Identifying command and control (C2) behaviours in network traffic
Module 4: Containment, Eradication, and Communication - Short-term vs. long-term containment strategies
- Isolating infected systems without disrupting business
- Network segmentation techniques for rapid containment
- Using honeypots and deception technology during containment
- Domain and account lockdown procedures
- Malware removal and persistence mechanism identification
- Eradicating backdoors, scheduled tasks, and registry entries
- Validating system integrity after eradication
- Drafting internal incident bulletins for staff awareness
- Coordinating external communications with legal and PR
- Preparing incident status reports for executives
- Using structured communication templates (IR-Comms Matrix)
- Engaging law enforcement: when and how
- Working with insurers and forensic consultants
- Maintaining communication logs for audit and review
Module 5: Forensic Investigation and Evidence Handling - Principles of digital forensics: ACPO and ISO 27037
- Creating forensic images of disks and memory
- Chain of custody documentation and secure storage
- Analysing Windows event logs for timeline reconstruction
- Linux log analysis: auth.log, syslog, journalctl
- Browser history and artefact examination
- USB device detection and timeline mapping
- Registry hive analysis for persistence indicators
- PowerShell and WMI forensic artefacts
- Identifying file deletion, timestamp manipulation, and anti-forensic techniques
- Analysing prefetch and shimcache entries
- Recovering deleted files and unallocated space
- Using Sysmon logs for granular process tracking
- Network forensics: PCAP analysis and session reconstruction
- Email header analysis for phishing investigations
Module 6: Recovery and Operational Restoration - Developing recovery prioritisation matrices
- Validating system security before reintegration
- Rebuilding systems from clean backups: verification steps
- Testing restored systems for residual malware
- Monitoring for recurrence post-recovery
- Updating configurations to close exploited vulnerabilities
- Re-enabling services in phases with risk checks
- Documenting all recovery actions and timing
- Coordinating with business units for service resumption
- Managing user access restoration securely
- Updating backup integrity checks and retention policies
- Integrating multi-factor authentication post-incident
- Changing passwords and rotating keys systematically
- Validating data consistency after restoration
- Conducting post-recovery penetration testing
Module 7: Post-Incident Analysis and Reporting - Conducting structured post-mortems (blameless reviews)
- Creating a standard incident summary report template
- Quantifying impact: financial, operational, reputational
- Analysing root cause using the 5 Whys and Fishbone diagrams
- Identifying process and control failures
- Calculating mean time to detect (MTTD) and mean time to respond (MTTR)
- Presenting findings to technical and non-technical audiences
- Generating executive dashboards from incident data
- Tracking recurring incident types for trend analysis
- Exporting reports for compliance audits
- Archiving incident records securely and accessibly
- Integrating lessons learned into future playbooks
- Updating risk assessments based on incident outcomes
- Measuring IR team performance metrics (SLAs, accuracy, speed)
- Generating board-level incident review presentations
Module 8: Threat Intelligence Integration and Proactive Defence - Sourcing actionable threat intelligence (open, commercial, private)
- Integrating threat feeds into SIEM and EDR platforms
- Mapping IOCs to MITRE ATT&CK techniques
- Using STIX/TAXII for standardised threat data
- Developing watchlists for known threat actors
- Creating automated alert rules from threat intelligence
- Tracking adversary infrastructure (domains, IPs, certificates)
- Analysing TTPs for future detection improvements
- Conducting red team emulation based on active threats
- Running purple team exercises to validate defences
- Updating detection logic based on threat actor evolution
- Sharing anonymised IOCs with ISACs
- Setting up dark web monitoring for organisational exposure
- Using threat intelligence for vulnerability prioritisation
- Building a threat intelligence feedback loop
Module 9: Automation, Orchestration, and Scalability - Introduction to SOAR platforms and use cases
- Designing playbooks for automated response actions
- Automated ticket creation and assignment
- Integrating SOAR with email, messaging, and ITSM tools
- Automating initial containment decisions
- Scripting common response tasks in Python and PowerShell
- Validating automation outputs for accuracy
- Orchestrating cross-tool responses (EDR, firewall, MDM)
- Monitoring automation performance and error handling
- Scaling incident response across multiple business units
- Managing distributed IR operations in hybrid environments
- Standardising workflows across global teams
- Building centralised dashboards for incident visibility
- Using APIs to connect security tools
- Creating reusable templates for incident classification and routing
Module 10: Compliance, Audit, and Legal Considerations - Documenting incident response for regulatory audits
- Meeting GDPR breach notification timelines (72-hour rule)
- Handling personal data exposure incidents
- Compliance with SOX, HIPAA, and other sector-specific laws
- Working with data protection officers (DPOs)
- Legal privilege in incident investigations
- Preserving evidence for potential litigation
- Engaging outside counsel during incidents
- Understanding civil and criminal liability exposure
- Reporting to regulators: required content and timing
- Drafting data breach notification letters
- Managing third-party contractual obligations post-incident
- Insurance claims documentation and proof of response
- Audit readiness checklists for IR programs
- Aligning IR with corporate governance frameworks
Module 11: Adversary Simulation and Capability Validation - Designing realistic red team scenarios
- Planning scope, rules of engagement, and success criteria
- Conducting phishing, lateral movement, and privilege escalation tests
- Simulating APT-style attack chains
- Evaluating detection and response effectiveness
- Measuring team response time and accuracy
- Using simulation results to update playbooks
- Running no-notice drills for stress testing
- Assessing communication breakdowns during simulations
- Validating backup and recovery capabilities under pressure
- Integrating tabletop exercises into annual security planning
- Designing cross-functional crisis response drills
- Measuring improvements over time with KPIs
- Reporting simulation outcomes to executive leadership
- Creating a continuous improvement roadmap
Module 12: Career Advancement and Certification Preparation - Positioning your IR expertise in performance reviews
- Building a portfolio of incident response artifacts
- Highlighting certifications in job applications and promotions
- Leveraging The Art of Service Certificate of Completion
- Aligning course outcomes with CISSP, CISM, and GCIH domains
- Preparing for technical interview questions on IR
- Demonstrating ROI of incident response to management
- Documenting cost savings from faster incident resolution
- Presenting incident metrics to justify team growth or tooling investment
- Transitioning from generalist to IR specialist
- Networking with other certified professionals
- Joining incident response communities and ISACs
- Continuing education pathways in forensic analysis and threat hunting
- Accessing alumni resources and updates
- Next steps: advanced certifications, consulting opportunities, leadership roles
- Defining cyber incidents: scope, severity, and classification
- Understanding the incident lifecycle: preparation to post-incident review
- Role of IR in overall cybersecurity strategy
- Key regulatory requirements impacting incident response (GDPR, HIPAA, PCI-DSS)
- Aligning IR with business continuity and disaster recovery plans
- Core responsibilities of an incident responder
- Common pitfalls in early-stage incident handling
- Differentiating between security events, alerts, and confirmed incidents
- Establishing baseline network and system behaviours
- Threat landscape overview: ransomware, APTs, insider threats, supply chain attacks
- Introduction to NIST SP 800-61 Rev. 2 framework
- Overview of ISO/IEC 27035 standards for IR
- MITRE ATT&CK framework: practical applications for detection and response
- Building the case for formalised incident response to leadership
- Creating executive summaries for non-technical stakeholders
Module 2: Building Your Incident Response Team and Playbook - Defining core IR roles: CSIRT structure and accountability
- Internal vs. external team members: when to engage third parties
- Drafting an IR charter with authority and access mandates
- Developing communication protocols during incidents
- Creating contact trees for technical, legal, PR, and executive teams
- Writing clear escalation procedures by incident type
- Designing response playbooks for common scenarios (ransomware, data exfiltration, brute force)
- Version control and change management for IR documentation
- Integrating IR playbooks with SIEM and SOAR systems
- Role-based training requirements for team members
- Tabletop exercise planning and facilitation
- Legal and compliance considerations in team formation
- Principles of chain of custody in digital evidence handling
- Handling jurisdictional and cross-border incident implications
- Creating a global incident response coordination model
Module 3: Detection and Triage Strategies - Designing detection rules based on adversary tactics
- Analysing SIEM alerts for false positives and true positives
- Using log sources effectively: firewall, endpoint, DNS, authentication
- Triage frameworks: EDR, network telemetry, and asset criticality
- Establishing incident severity scoring (CVSS, internal risk tiers)
- Developing time-critical triage checklists
- Initial evidence preservation steps upon detection
- Containment decision frameworks: cold vs. warm investigation
- Engaging stakeholders early: when and how to escalate
- Creating standard intake forms for incident reporting
- Automating initial triage with rule-based workflows
- Integrating threat intelligence into detection logic
- Using YARA and Sigma rules for pattern matching
- Detecting lateral movement through log correlation
- Identifying command and control (C2) behaviours in network traffic
Module 4: Containment, Eradication, and Communication - Short-term vs. long-term containment strategies
- Isolating infected systems without disrupting business
- Network segmentation techniques for rapid containment
- Using honeypots and deception technology during containment
- Domain and account lockdown procedures
- Malware removal and persistence mechanism identification
- Eradicating backdoors, scheduled tasks, and registry entries
- Validating system integrity after eradication
- Drafting internal incident bulletins for staff awareness
- Coordinating external communications with legal and PR
- Preparing incident status reports for executives
- Using structured communication templates (IR-Comms Matrix)
- Engaging law enforcement: when and how
- Working with insurers and forensic consultants
- Maintaining communication logs for audit and review
Module 5: Forensic Investigation and Evidence Handling - Principles of digital forensics: ACPO and ISO 27037
- Creating forensic images of disks and memory
- Chain of custody documentation and secure storage
- Analysing Windows event logs for timeline reconstruction
- Linux log analysis: auth.log, syslog, journalctl
- Browser history and artefact examination
- USB device detection and timeline mapping
- Registry hive analysis for persistence indicators
- PowerShell and WMI forensic artefacts
- Identifying file deletion, timestamp manipulation, and anti-forensic techniques
- Analysing prefetch and shimcache entries
- Recovering deleted files and unallocated space
- Using Sysmon logs for granular process tracking
- Network forensics: PCAP analysis and session reconstruction
- Email header analysis for phishing investigations
Module 6: Recovery and Operational Restoration - Developing recovery prioritisation matrices
- Validating system security before reintegration
- Rebuilding systems from clean backups: verification steps
- Testing restored systems for residual malware
- Monitoring for recurrence post-recovery
- Updating configurations to close exploited vulnerabilities
- Re-enabling services in phases with risk checks
- Documenting all recovery actions and timing
- Coordinating with business units for service resumption
- Managing user access restoration securely
- Updating backup integrity checks and retention policies
- Integrating multi-factor authentication post-incident
- Changing passwords and rotating keys systematically
- Validating data consistency after restoration
- Conducting post-recovery penetration testing
Module 7: Post-Incident Analysis and Reporting - Conducting structured post-mortems (blameless reviews)
- Creating a standard incident summary report template
- Quantifying impact: financial, operational, reputational
- Analysing root cause using the 5 Whys and Fishbone diagrams
- Identifying process and control failures
- Calculating mean time to detect (MTTD) and mean time to respond (MTTR)
- Presenting findings to technical and non-technical audiences
- Generating executive dashboards from incident data
- Tracking recurring incident types for trend analysis
- Exporting reports for compliance audits
- Archiving incident records securely and accessibly
- Integrating lessons learned into future playbooks
- Updating risk assessments based on incident outcomes
- Measuring IR team performance metrics (SLAs, accuracy, speed)
- Generating board-level incident review presentations
Module 8: Threat Intelligence Integration and Proactive Defence - Sourcing actionable threat intelligence (open, commercial, private)
- Integrating threat feeds into SIEM and EDR platforms
- Mapping IOCs to MITRE ATT&CK techniques
- Using STIX/TAXII for standardised threat data
- Developing watchlists for known threat actors
- Creating automated alert rules from threat intelligence
- Tracking adversary infrastructure (domains, IPs, certificates)
- Analysing TTPs for future detection improvements
- Conducting red team emulation based on active threats
- Running purple team exercises to validate defences
- Updating detection logic based on threat actor evolution
- Sharing anonymised IOCs with ISACs
- Setting up dark web monitoring for organisational exposure
- Using threat intelligence for vulnerability prioritisation
- Building a threat intelligence feedback loop
Module 9: Automation, Orchestration, and Scalability - Introduction to SOAR platforms and use cases
- Designing playbooks for automated response actions
- Automated ticket creation and assignment
- Integrating SOAR with email, messaging, and ITSM tools
- Automating initial containment decisions
- Scripting common response tasks in Python and PowerShell
- Validating automation outputs for accuracy
- Orchestrating cross-tool responses (EDR, firewall, MDM)
- Monitoring automation performance and error handling
- Scaling incident response across multiple business units
- Managing distributed IR operations in hybrid environments
- Standardising workflows across global teams
- Building centralised dashboards for incident visibility
- Using APIs to connect security tools
- Creating reusable templates for incident classification and routing
Module 10: Compliance, Audit, and Legal Considerations - Documenting incident response for regulatory audits
- Meeting GDPR breach notification timelines (72-hour rule)
- Handling personal data exposure incidents
- Compliance with SOX, HIPAA, and other sector-specific laws
- Working with data protection officers (DPOs)
- Legal privilege in incident investigations
- Preserving evidence for potential litigation
- Engaging outside counsel during incidents
- Understanding civil and criminal liability exposure
- Reporting to regulators: required content and timing
- Drafting data breach notification letters
- Managing third-party contractual obligations post-incident
- Insurance claims documentation and proof of response
- Audit readiness checklists for IR programs
- Aligning IR with corporate governance frameworks
Module 11: Adversary Simulation and Capability Validation - Designing realistic red team scenarios
- Planning scope, rules of engagement, and success criteria
- Conducting phishing, lateral movement, and privilege escalation tests
- Simulating APT-style attack chains
- Evaluating detection and response effectiveness
- Measuring team response time and accuracy
- Using simulation results to update playbooks
- Running no-notice drills for stress testing
- Assessing communication breakdowns during simulations
- Validating backup and recovery capabilities under pressure
- Integrating tabletop exercises into annual security planning
- Designing cross-functional crisis response drills
- Measuring improvements over time with KPIs
- Reporting simulation outcomes to executive leadership
- Creating a continuous improvement roadmap
Module 12: Career Advancement and Certification Preparation - Positioning your IR expertise in performance reviews
- Building a portfolio of incident response artifacts
- Highlighting certifications in job applications and promotions
- Leveraging The Art of Service Certificate of Completion
- Aligning course outcomes with CISSP, CISM, and GCIH domains
- Preparing for technical interview questions on IR
- Demonstrating ROI of incident response to management
- Documenting cost savings from faster incident resolution
- Presenting incident metrics to justify team growth or tooling investment
- Transitioning from generalist to IR specialist
- Networking with other certified professionals
- Joining incident response communities and ISACs
- Continuing education pathways in forensic analysis and threat hunting
- Accessing alumni resources and updates
- Next steps: advanced certifications, consulting opportunities, leadership roles
- Designing detection rules based on adversary tactics
- Analysing SIEM alerts for false positives and true positives
- Using log sources effectively: firewall, endpoint, DNS, authentication
- Triage frameworks: EDR, network telemetry, and asset criticality
- Establishing incident severity scoring (CVSS, internal risk tiers)
- Developing time-critical triage checklists
- Initial evidence preservation steps upon detection
- Containment decision frameworks: cold vs. warm investigation
- Engaging stakeholders early: when and how to escalate
- Creating standard intake forms for incident reporting
- Automating initial triage with rule-based workflows
- Integrating threat intelligence into detection logic
- Using YARA and Sigma rules for pattern matching
- Detecting lateral movement through log correlation
- Identifying command and control (C2) behaviours in network traffic
Module 4: Containment, Eradication, and Communication - Short-term vs. long-term containment strategies
- Isolating infected systems without disrupting business
- Network segmentation techniques for rapid containment
- Using honeypots and deception technology during containment
- Domain and account lockdown procedures
- Malware removal and persistence mechanism identification
- Eradicating backdoors, scheduled tasks, and registry entries
- Validating system integrity after eradication
- Drafting internal incident bulletins for staff awareness
- Coordinating external communications with legal and PR
- Preparing incident status reports for executives
- Using structured communication templates (IR-Comms Matrix)
- Engaging law enforcement: when and how
- Working with insurers and forensic consultants
- Maintaining communication logs for audit and review
Module 5: Forensic Investigation and Evidence Handling - Principles of digital forensics: ACPO and ISO 27037
- Creating forensic images of disks and memory
- Chain of custody documentation and secure storage
- Analysing Windows event logs for timeline reconstruction
- Linux log analysis: auth.log, syslog, journalctl
- Browser history and artefact examination
- USB device detection and timeline mapping
- Registry hive analysis for persistence indicators
- PowerShell and WMI forensic artefacts
- Identifying file deletion, timestamp manipulation, and anti-forensic techniques
- Analysing prefetch and shimcache entries
- Recovering deleted files and unallocated space
- Using Sysmon logs for granular process tracking
- Network forensics: PCAP analysis and session reconstruction
- Email header analysis for phishing investigations
Module 6: Recovery and Operational Restoration - Developing recovery prioritisation matrices
- Validating system security before reintegration
- Rebuilding systems from clean backups: verification steps
- Testing restored systems for residual malware
- Monitoring for recurrence post-recovery
- Updating configurations to close exploited vulnerabilities
- Re-enabling services in phases with risk checks
- Documenting all recovery actions and timing
- Coordinating with business units for service resumption
- Managing user access restoration securely
- Updating backup integrity checks and retention policies
- Integrating multi-factor authentication post-incident
- Changing passwords and rotating keys systematically
- Validating data consistency after restoration
- Conducting post-recovery penetration testing
Module 7: Post-Incident Analysis and Reporting - Conducting structured post-mortems (blameless reviews)
- Creating a standard incident summary report template
- Quantifying impact: financial, operational, reputational
- Analysing root cause using the 5 Whys and Fishbone diagrams
- Identifying process and control failures
- Calculating mean time to detect (MTTD) and mean time to respond (MTTR)
- Presenting findings to technical and non-technical audiences
- Generating executive dashboards from incident data
- Tracking recurring incident types for trend analysis
- Exporting reports for compliance audits
- Archiving incident records securely and accessibly
- Integrating lessons learned into future playbooks
- Updating risk assessments based on incident outcomes
- Measuring IR team performance metrics (SLAs, accuracy, speed)
- Generating board-level incident review presentations
Module 8: Threat Intelligence Integration and Proactive Defence - Sourcing actionable threat intelligence (open, commercial, private)
- Integrating threat feeds into SIEM and EDR platforms
- Mapping IOCs to MITRE ATT&CK techniques
- Using STIX/TAXII for standardised threat data
- Developing watchlists for known threat actors
- Creating automated alert rules from threat intelligence
- Tracking adversary infrastructure (domains, IPs, certificates)
- Analysing TTPs for future detection improvements
- Conducting red team emulation based on active threats
- Running purple team exercises to validate defences
- Updating detection logic based on threat actor evolution
- Sharing anonymised IOCs with ISACs
- Setting up dark web monitoring for organisational exposure
- Using threat intelligence for vulnerability prioritisation
- Building a threat intelligence feedback loop
Module 9: Automation, Orchestration, and Scalability - Introduction to SOAR platforms and use cases
- Designing playbooks for automated response actions
- Automated ticket creation and assignment
- Integrating SOAR with email, messaging, and ITSM tools
- Automating initial containment decisions
- Scripting common response tasks in Python and PowerShell
- Validating automation outputs for accuracy
- Orchestrating cross-tool responses (EDR, firewall, MDM)
- Monitoring automation performance and error handling
- Scaling incident response across multiple business units
- Managing distributed IR operations in hybrid environments
- Standardising workflows across global teams
- Building centralised dashboards for incident visibility
- Using APIs to connect security tools
- Creating reusable templates for incident classification and routing
Module 10: Compliance, Audit, and Legal Considerations - Documenting incident response for regulatory audits
- Meeting GDPR breach notification timelines (72-hour rule)
- Handling personal data exposure incidents
- Compliance with SOX, HIPAA, and other sector-specific laws
- Working with data protection officers (DPOs)
- Legal privilege in incident investigations
- Preserving evidence for potential litigation
- Engaging outside counsel during incidents
- Understanding civil and criminal liability exposure
- Reporting to regulators: required content and timing
- Drafting data breach notification letters
- Managing third-party contractual obligations post-incident
- Insurance claims documentation and proof of response
- Audit readiness checklists for IR programs
- Aligning IR with corporate governance frameworks
Module 11: Adversary Simulation and Capability Validation - Designing realistic red team scenarios
- Planning scope, rules of engagement, and success criteria
- Conducting phishing, lateral movement, and privilege escalation tests
- Simulating APT-style attack chains
- Evaluating detection and response effectiveness
- Measuring team response time and accuracy
- Using simulation results to update playbooks
- Running no-notice drills for stress testing
- Assessing communication breakdowns during simulations
- Validating backup and recovery capabilities under pressure
- Integrating tabletop exercises into annual security planning
- Designing cross-functional crisis response drills
- Measuring improvements over time with KPIs
- Reporting simulation outcomes to executive leadership
- Creating a continuous improvement roadmap
Module 12: Career Advancement and Certification Preparation - Positioning your IR expertise in performance reviews
- Building a portfolio of incident response artifacts
- Highlighting certifications in job applications and promotions
- Leveraging The Art of Service Certificate of Completion
- Aligning course outcomes with CISSP, CISM, and GCIH domains
- Preparing for technical interview questions on IR
- Demonstrating ROI of incident response to management
- Documenting cost savings from faster incident resolution
- Presenting incident metrics to justify team growth or tooling investment
- Transitioning from generalist to IR specialist
- Networking with other certified professionals
- Joining incident response communities and ISACs
- Continuing education pathways in forensic analysis and threat hunting
- Accessing alumni resources and updates
- Next steps: advanced certifications, consulting opportunities, leadership roles
- Principles of digital forensics: ACPO and ISO 27037
- Creating forensic images of disks and memory
- Chain of custody documentation and secure storage
- Analysing Windows event logs for timeline reconstruction
- Linux log analysis: auth.log, syslog, journalctl
- Browser history and artefact examination
- USB device detection and timeline mapping
- Registry hive analysis for persistence indicators
- PowerShell and WMI forensic artefacts
- Identifying file deletion, timestamp manipulation, and anti-forensic techniques
- Analysing prefetch and shimcache entries
- Recovering deleted files and unallocated space
- Using Sysmon logs for granular process tracking
- Network forensics: PCAP analysis and session reconstruction
- Email header analysis for phishing investigations
Module 6: Recovery and Operational Restoration - Developing recovery prioritisation matrices
- Validating system security before reintegration
- Rebuilding systems from clean backups: verification steps
- Testing restored systems for residual malware
- Monitoring for recurrence post-recovery
- Updating configurations to close exploited vulnerabilities
- Re-enabling services in phases with risk checks
- Documenting all recovery actions and timing
- Coordinating with business units for service resumption
- Managing user access restoration securely
- Updating backup integrity checks and retention policies
- Integrating multi-factor authentication post-incident
- Changing passwords and rotating keys systematically
- Validating data consistency after restoration
- Conducting post-recovery penetration testing
Module 7: Post-Incident Analysis and Reporting - Conducting structured post-mortems (blameless reviews)
- Creating a standard incident summary report template
- Quantifying impact: financial, operational, reputational
- Analysing root cause using the 5 Whys and Fishbone diagrams
- Identifying process and control failures
- Calculating mean time to detect (MTTD) and mean time to respond (MTTR)
- Presenting findings to technical and non-technical audiences
- Generating executive dashboards from incident data
- Tracking recurring incident types for trend analysis
- Exporting reports for compliance audits
- Archiving incident records securely and accessibly
- Integrating lessons learned into future playbooks
- Updating risk assessments based on incident outcomes
- Measuring IR team performance metrics (SLAs, accuracy, speed)
- Generating board-level incident review presentations
Module 8: Threat Intelligence Integration and Proactive Defence - Sourcing actionable threat intelligence (open, commercial, private)
- Integrating threat feeds into SIEM and EDR platforms
- Mapping IOCs to MITRE ATT&CK techniques
- Using STIX/TAXII for standardised threat data
- Developing watchlists for known threat actors
- Creating automated alert rules from threat intelligence
- Tracking adversary infrastructure (domains, IPs, certificates)
- Analysing TTPs for future detection improvements
- Conducting red team emulation based on active threats
- Running purple team exercises to validate defences
- Updating detection logic based on threat actor evolution
- Sharing anonymised IOCs with ISACs
- Setting up dark web monitoring for organisational exposure
- Using threat intelligence for vulnerability prioritisation
- Building a threat intelligence feedback loop
Module 9: Automation, Orchestration, and Scalability - Introduction to SOAR platforms and use cases
- Designing playbooks for automated response actions
- Automated ticket creation and assignment
- Integrating SOAR with email, messaging, and ITSM tools
- Automating initial containment decisions
- Scripting common response tasks in Python and PowerShell
- Validating automation outputs for accuracy
- Orchestrating cross-tool responses (EDR, firewall, MDM)
- Monitoring automation performance and error handling
- Scaling incident response across multiple business units
- Managing distributed IR operations in hybrid environments
- Standardising workflows across global teams
- Building centralised dashboards for incident visibility
- Using APIs to connect security tools
- Creating reusable templates for incident classification and routing
Module 10: Compliance, Audit, and Legal Considerations - Documenting incident response for regulatory audits
- Meeting GDPR breach notification timelines (72-hour rule)
- Handling personal data exposure incidents
- Compliance with SOX, HIPAA, and other sector-specific laws
- Working with data protection officers (DPOs)
- Legal privilege in incident investigations
- Preserving evidence for potential litigation
- Engaging outside counsel during incidents
- Understanding civil and criminal liability exposure
- Reporting to regulators: required content and timing
- Drafting data breach notification letters
- Managing third-party contractual obligations post-incident
- Insurance claims documentation and proof of response
- Audit readiness checklists for IR programs
- Aligning IR with corporate governance frameworks
Module 11: Adversary Simulation and Capability Validation - Designing realistic red team scenarios
- Planning scope, rules of engagement, and success criteria
- Conducting phishing, lateral movement, and privilege escalation tests
- Simulating APT-style attack chains
- Evaluating detection and response effectiveness
- Measuring team response time and accuracy
- Using simulation results to update playbooks
- Running no-notice drills for stress testing
- Assessing communication breakdowns during simulations
- Validating backup and recovery capabilities under pressure
- Integrating tabletop exercises into annual security planning
- Designing cross-functional crisis response drills
- Measuring improvements over time with KPIs
- Reporting simulation outcomes to executive leadership
- Creating a continuous improvement roadmap
Module 12: Career Advancement and Certification Preparation - Positioning your IR expertise in performance reviews
- Building a portfolio of incident response artifacts
- Highlighting certifications in job applications and promotions
- Leveraging The Art of Service Certificate of Completion
- Aligning course outcomes with CISSP, CISM, and GCIH domains
- Preparing for technical interview questions on IR
- Demonstrating ROI of incident response to management
- Documenting cost savings from faster incident resolution
- Presenting incident metrics to justify team growth or tooling investment
- Transitioning from generalist to IR specialist
- Networking with other certified professionals
- Joining incident response communities and ISACs
- Continuing education pathways in forensic analysis and threat hunting
- Accessing alumni resources and updates
- Next steps: advanced certifications, consulting opportunities, leadership roles
- Conducting structured post-mortems (blameless reviews)
- Creating a standard incident summary report template
- Quantifying impact: financial, operational, reputational
- Analysing root cause using the 5 Whys and Fishbone diagrams
- Identifying process and control failures
- Calculating mean time to detect (MTTD) and mean time to respond (MTTR)
- Presenting findings to technical and non-technical audiences
- Generating executive dashboards from incident data
- Tracking recurring incident types for trend analysis
- Exporting reports for compliance audits
- Archiving incident records securely and accessibly
- Integrating lessons learned into future playbooks
- Updating risk assessments based on incident outcomes
- Measuring IR team performance metrics (SLAs, accuracy, speed)
- Generating board-level incident review presentations
Module 8: Threat Intelligence Integration and Proactive Defence - Sourcing actionable threat intelligence (open, commercial, private)
- Integrating threat feeds into SIEM and EDR platforms
- Mapping IOCs to MITRE ATT&CK techniques
- Using STIX/TAXII for standardised threat data
- Developing watchlists for known threat actors
- Creating automated alert rules from threat intelligence
- Tracking adversary infrastructure (domains, IPs, certificates)
- Analysing TTPs for future detection improvements
- Conducting red team emulation based on active threats
- Running purple team exercises to validate defences
- Updating detection logic based on threat actor evolution
- Sharing anonymised IOCs with ISACs
- Setting up dark web monitoring for organisational exposure
- Using threat intelligence for vulnerability prioritisation
- Building a threat intelligence feedback loop
Module 9: Automation, Orchestration, and Scalability - Introduction to SOAR platforms and use cases
- Designing playbooks for automated response actions
- Automated ticket creation and assignment
- Integrating SOAR with email, messaging, and ITSM tools
- Automating initial containment decisions
- Scripting common response tasks in Python and PowerShell
- Validating automation outputs for accuracy
- Orchestrating cross-tool responses (EDR, firewall, MDM)
- Monitoring automation performance and error handling
- Scaling incident response across multiple business units
- Managing distributed IR operations in hybrid environments
- Standardising workflows across global teams
- Building centralised dashboards for incident visibility
- Using APIs to connect security tools
- Creating reusable templates for incident classification and routing
Module 10: Compliance, Audit, and Legal Considerations - Documenting incident response for regulatory audits
- Meeting GDPR breach notification timelines (72-hour rule)
- Handling personal data exposure incidents
- Compliance with SOX, HIPAA, and other sector-specific laws
- Working with data protection officers (DPOs)
- Legal privilege in incident investigations
- Preserving evidence for potential litigation
- Engaging outside counsel during incidents
- Understanding civil and criminal liability exposure
- Reporting to regulators: required content and timing
- Drafting data breach notification letters
- Managing third-party contractual obligations post-incident
- Insurance claims documentation and proof of response
- Audit readiness checklists for IR programs
- Aligning IR with corporate governance frameworks
Module 11: Adversary Simulation and Capability Validation - Designing realistic red team scenarios
- Planning scope, rules of engagement, and success criteria
- Conducting phishing, lateral movement, and privilege escalation tests
- Simulating APT-style attack chains
- Evaluating detection and response effectiveness
- Measuring team response time and accuracy
- Using simulation results to update playbooks
- Running no-notice drills for stress testing
- Assessing communication breakdowns during simulations
- Validating backup and recovery capabilities under pressure
- Integrating tabletop exercises into annual security planning
- Designing cross-functional crisis response drills
- Measuring improvements over time with KPIs
- Reporting simulation outcomes to executive leadership
- Creating a continuous improvement roadmap
Module 12: Career Advancement and Certification Preparation - Positioning your IR expertise in performance reviews
- Building a portfolio of incident response artifacts
- Highlighting certifications in job applications and promotions
- Leveraging The Art of Service Certificate of Completion
- Aligning course outcomes with CISSP, CISM, and GCIH domains
- Preparing for technical interview questions on IR
- Demonstrating ROI of incident response to management
- Documenting cost savings from faster incident resolution
- Presenting incident metrics to justify team growth or tooling investment
- Transitioning from generalist to IR specialist
- Networking with other certified professionals
- Joining incident response communities and ISACs
- Continuing education pathways in forensic analysis and threat hunting
- Accessing alumni resources and updates
- Next steps: advanced certifications, consulting opportunities, leadership roles
- Introduction to SOAR platforms and use cases
- Designing playbooks for automated response actions
- Automated ticket creation and assignment
- Integrating SOAR with email, messaging, and ITSM tools
- Automating initial containment decisions
- Scripting common response tasks in Python and PowerShell
- Validating automation outputs for accuracy
- Orchestrating cross-tool responses (EDR, firewall, MDM)
- Monitoring automation performance and error handling
- Scaling incident response across multiple business units
- Managing distributed IR operations in hybrid environments
- Standardising workflows across global teams
- Building centralised dashboards for incident visibility
- Using APIs to connect security tools
- Creating reusable templates for incident classification and routing
Module 10: Compliance, Audit, and Legal Considerations - Documenting incident response for regulatory audits
- Meeting GDPR breach notification timelines (72-hour rule)
- Handling personal data exposure incidents
- Compliance with SOX, HIPAA, and other sector-specific laws
- Working with data protection officers (DPOs)
- Legal privilege in incident investigations
- Preserving evidence for potential litigation
- Engaging outside counsel during incidents
- Understanding civil and criminal liability exposure
- Reporting to regulators: required content and timing
- Drafting data breach notification letters
- Managing third-party contractual obligations post-incident
- Insurance claims documentation and proof of response
- Audit readiness checklists for IR programs
- Aligning IR with corporate governance frameworks
Module 11: Adversary Simulation and Capability Validation - Designing realistic red team scenarios
- Planning scope, rules of engagement, and success criteria
- Conducting phishing, lateral movement, and privilege escalation tests
- Simulating APT-style attack chains
- Evaluating detection and response effectiveness
- Measuring team response time and accuracy
- Using simulation results to update playbooks
- Running no-notice drills for stress testing
- Assessing communication breakdowns during simulations
- Validating backup and recovery capabilities under pressure
- Integrating tabletop exercises into annual security planning
- Designing cross-functional crisis response drills
- Measuring improvements over time with KPIs
- Reporting simulation outcomes to executive leadership
- Creating a continuous improvement roadmap
Module 12: Career Advancement and Certification Preparation - Positioning your IR expertise in performance reviews
- Building a portfolio of incident response artifacts
- Highlighting certifications in job applications and promotions
- Leveraging The Art of Service Certificate of Completion
- Aligning course outcomes with CISSP, CISM, and GCIH domains
- Preparing for technical interview questions on IR
- Demonstrating ROI of incident response to management
- Documenting cost savings from faster incident resolution
- Presenting incident metrics to justify team growth or tooling investment
- Transitioning from generalist to IR specialist
- Networking with other certified professionals
- Joining incident response communities and ISACs
- Continuing education pathways in forensic analysis and threat hunting
- Accessing alumni resources and updates
- Next steps: advanced certifications, consulting opportunities, leadership roles
- Designing realistic red team scenarios
- Planning scope, rules of engagement, and success criteria
- Conducting phishing, lateral movement, and privilege escalation tests
- Simulating APT-style attack chains
- Evaluating detection and response effectiveness
- Measuring team response time and accuracy
- Using simulation results to update playbooks
- Running no-notice drills for stress testing
- Assessing communication breakdowns during simulations
- Validating backup and recovery capabilities under pressure
- Integrating tabletop exercises into annual security planning
- Designing cross-functional crisis response drills
- Measuring improvements over time with KPIs
- Reporting simulation outcomes to executive leadership
- Creating a continuous improvement roadmap