This curriculum spans the technical, procedural, and organizational dimensions of breach response, comparable in scope to a multi-phase incident readiness program that integrates with existing SOC operations, legal compliance workflows, and executive decision structures.
Module 1: Incident Detection and Monitoring Architecture
- Selecting between EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response) and traditional antivirus based on organizational endpoint diversity and threat visibility requirements.
- Configuring SIEM correlation rules to reduce false positives while maintaining detection sensitivity for lateral movement indicators.
- Deciding log retention periods based on regulatory mandates, storage costs, and forensic investigation needs.
- Integrating network traffic analysis (NTA) tools with existing monitoring stacks to detect command-and-control communications.
- Implementing agent-based vs. agentless monitoring for cloud workloads based on platform constraints and visibility depth.
- Establishing thresholds for automated alert escalation to avoid analyst fatigue during high-volume events.
Module 2: Threat Intelligence Integration
- Filtering and prioritizing threat feeds based on relevance to industry vertical and existing attack surface.
- Mapping IOCs (Indicators of Compromise) to internal detection systems without introducing performance degradation.
- Assessing the reliability of open-source vs. commercial threat intelligence providers for attribution accuracy.
- Automating IOC ingestion into firewalls, proxies, and email gateways using STIX/TAXII protocols.
- Creating feedback loops to validate intelligence effectiveness based on actual detection and containment outcomes.
- Handling legal and privacy constraints when consuming threat data involving third-party network activity.
Module 3: Incident Response Planning and Execution
- Defining escalation paths for breach response that align with legal, PR, and executive leadership roles.
- Conducting tabletop exercises with cross-functional teams to validate IR playbooks under time pressure.
- Choosing containment strategies—network isolation, account disablement, or system shutdown—based on business continuity impact.
- Preserving volatile evidence from memory and logs before initiating disruptive remediation actions.
- Coordinating response activities across geographically distributed IT teams during a 24/7 breach scenario.
- Documenting decision rationale during incident handling for post-mortem review and regulatory compliance.
Module 4: Forensic Investigation and Evidence Handling
- Creating forensic disk images from virtualized and cloud-based systems without altering original data states.
- Selecting forensic tools (e.g., FTK, Autopsy, Velociraptor) based on environment scale and artifact complexity.
- Establishing chain-of-custody procedures for digital evidence to maintain admissibility in legal proceedings.
- Recovering deleted files and registry entries to trace attacker persistence mechanisms.
- Correlating timestamps across systems with inconsistent time synchronization for timeline reconstruction.
- Handling encrypted or obfuscated data during forensic analysis without triggering anti-forensic countermeasures.
Module 5: Legal, Regulatory, and Disclosure Obligations
- Determining breach reportability under GDPR, HIPAA, or CCPA based on data type and affected individual count.
- Coordinating with legal counsel to delay public disclosure while preserving investigation integrity.
- Preparing breach notification letters that comply with jurisdictional requirements without admitting liability.
- Responding to regulatory inquiries while maintaining internal investigation confidentiality.
- Managing cross-border data transfer implications when engaging third-party forensic firms.
- Documenting mitigation efforts to demonstrate reasonable security practices during regulatory audits.
Module 6: Post-Incident Recovery and System Restoration
- Validating clean backups before restoration to prevent reinfection from compromised backup images.
- Rebuilding domain controllers and certificate authorities after privilege escalation compromises.
- Rotating cryptographic keys and certificates across services without disrupting business operations.
- Reconciling account permissions post-breach to eliminate unauthorized access privileges.
- Testing restored systems under isolated conditions to confirm absence of dormant backdoors.
- Updating configuration baselines to close exploited vulnerabilities in hardened system images.
Module 7: Root Cause Analysis and Security Posture Improvement
- Conducting blameless post-mortems to identify process gaps rather than individual failures.
- Mapping attacker tactics to MITRE ATT&CK framework to prioritize defensive improvements.
- Adjusting vulnerability management cycles based on exploit timelines observed during the breach.
- Implementing just-in-time access controls to reduce standing privileges after credential theft.
- Evaluating investment in deception technologies based on attacker dwell time and lateral movement patterns.
- Updating third-party risk assessments following supply chain compromise incidents.
Module 8: Communication and Stakeholder Management
- Drafting executive summaries that convey technical impact in business risk terms for board reporting.
- Coordinating messaging between security, legal, and public relations teams to ensure consistency.
- Preparing internal communications for employees to prevent misinformation during active incidents.
- Managing media inquiries without disclosing technical details that could aid future attackers.
- Reporting breach metrics to regulators using standardized frameworks like NIST or ISO 27001.
- Conducting post-incident briefings with business unit leaders to align security improvements with operational needs.