Creating a Robust Data Incident Response Plan

Data breaches are increasingly becoming not just a possibility but a probability in today’s digital-first world. For privacy and security professionals, creating a well-structured incident response plan is highly beneficial. The stakes are high, as breaches can lead to a number of adverse consequences including financial penalties, loss of business, reputational damage, and a loss of consumer trust.

This article provides insights into data breaches, their distinctions from security incidents, notable examples, and considerations for developing a response plan to help mitigate associated risks. However, as always, we recommend consulting your privacy, data governance, and legal teams when drafting your plans.

What is a data breach?

Before we discuss a data breach, it’s important to understand what it pertains to—specifically, personal information (which may also be known as personal information (PI), personal data, or a number of similar constructs under applicable law). Generally, personal information can be defined as any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural individual; an identifiable natural individual is one who can be identified, directly (e.g., name or identification number) or indirectly (e.g., location data or online identifiers). Personal information also includes factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural, or social identity of an individual.

Now, on to a data breach (sometimes called a personal data or personal information breach), which is commonly defined under privacy or data protection laws. Generally it’s described as a breach of security leading to the accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorized disclosure of, or access to personal information under an entity’s control. Data breaches can lead to a variety of potential harms for the affected individuals, such as identity theft, financial loss, and breach of subsequent systems (e.g., due to secondary attacks).

How data breaches differ from security incidents

While data breaches may be caused by a breach of security, the privacy aspects of a breach focus on the unauthorized access, handling, modification, or destruction of personal information. A security incident can cause numerous other issues such as unavailability, exposure of confidential non-personal information, etc.

• Data Breach: Involves unauthorized access, use, or disclosure of personal information. Examples include an employee improperly accessing customer records without authorization, mistakenly publishing confidential user data online, or exposing sensitive information through an unprotected database.
• Security Incident: Involves threats or events that can or do compromise the integrity, availability, or confidentiality of data systems. Examples include a cyberattack that steals encrypted customer data, malware infecting an organization’s servers, or the theft of a company laptop containing unencrypted personal information.

A security incident does not always result in a data breach. While a security incident may compromise data systems, a data breach specifically involves the unauthorized access, use, or disclosure of personal or confidential information. Incidents require investigation to determine if they resulted in a data breach.

The two often overlap but require distinct (although often complementary) strategies to address and prevent.

Standard phases of a data breach: The NIST Framework

Using the NIST Cybersecurity Framework, the standard phases of a data breach follow the four-step NIST Computer Security Incident Handling Guide (SP 800-61 Rev. 2). *There are newer phases defined under NIST however the phases listed here are being used as an illustrative explanation and baseline.

Understanding these phases can help organizations align their incident response plan with a recognized industry standard.

1. Preparation

• Establish incident response policies, tools, and procedures.
• Train employees on cybersecurity awareness and privacy best practices.
• Set up monitoring and detection systems to identify potential threats.
• Maintain up-to-date security controls to reduce risks.

How this relates to your incident response plan: The preparation phase directly informs the foundation of your response plan, including defining legal and regulatory requirements, implementing third-party vendor management strategies, and ensuring proper communication protocols are in place before an incident occurs.

2. Detection and analysis

• Identify potential security incidents through monitoring systems, analyzing logs,  and using tools to detect anomalies.
• Analyze incidents to determine their scope, impact, and severity.
• Document findings and escalate as needed.

How this relates to your incident response plan: Incident categorization and testing become crucial in this phase. Establishing clear severity levels and knowing when to involve legal counsel or the privacy team ensures effective decision-making and escalation.

3. Containment, eradication, and recovery

• Containment: Implement short-term and long-term strategies designed to prevent further damage (e.g., isolating infected systems and blocking malicious IPs).
• Eradication: Remove malware, patch vulnerabilities, and eliminate the root cause of the incident.
• Recovery: Restore affected systems, validate integrity, and resume normal operations.

How this relates to your incident response plan: This phase aligns with your notification and remediation strategy. Ensuring proper breach notification, data recovery, and system integrity validation is essential to minimize impact and restore operations efficiently.

4. Post-incident activity (lessons learned)

• Conduct a post-mortem analysis to evaluate incident response effectiveness.
• Improve security measures based on findings.
• Update response plans and train personnel.
• Document lessons learned for future incident prevention.

How this relates to your incident response plan: Post-incident learning and improvement are integral components of refining your privacy response strategies. Conducting feedback loops, establishing metrics for success, and ensuring board-level buy-in contribute to a continually evolving and effective response plan.

By mapping incident response steps to these standard NIST phases, organizations can ensure their plans are comprehensive, structured, and aligned with established security frameworks.

The growing importance of a data incident response plan

With the increasing frequency and complexity of data breaches, having a well-prepared response plan is more crucial than ever. Reports indicate a significant rise in reported breaches globally, reinforcing the need for organizations to be proactive rather than reactive.

Rising Data Breach Trends in 2024

Washington State Attorney General Report: The latest annual report highlights an alarming surge in data breaches:

• Over 11.6 million data breach notices were sent to Washingtonians—exceeding the state’s population for the first time.
• The number of breaches affecting at least 500 individuals increased to 279, marking the second-highest count since 2016.
• Ransomware attacks now account for 78% of all reported breaches, up from 68% in 2023. Ransomware also made up 52% of all cyberattacks and 41% of total breaches.
• Two mega breaches at Comcast and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center each impacted over a million residents, the first time multiple large-scale breaches have been reported in a single year.
• Social Security numbers were compromised in 69.5% of all breaches, reaffirming its place as one of the most frequently targeted personal data types.

France’s Data Protection Authority (CNIL) Report: France saw a 20% increase in personal data breaches in 2024, with 5,629 incidents reported to CNIL. This underscores the growing challenge of protecting sensitive personal information across industries.

The rising number and scale of breaches highlight the need for organizations to have a structured and effective response plan in place.

Building your data incident response plan

A robust incident response plan requires more than basic preparation—it calls for strategic categorization, a clear framework for action, and a focus on long-term learning. Privacy professionals, partnering with security professionals and other stakeholders, can ensure their plans are both actionable and resilient by focusing on several critical components, including legal compliance, communication strategies, and continuous improvement.

1. Assessing and containing incidents

Understand the scope and cause: Assess the root cause of the incident and determine which systems, data, and assets were affected. This evaluation may be conducted internally or with the support of external specialists. Identify the owners of the impacted data and its nature to distinguish between privacy-focused and security-rooted incidents.

Assess potential impact: Evaluate the type of personal data involved, the number of individuals affected, and the potential or theoretical risks (the “blast radius”), such as identity theft or financial fraud. Ensure that assessments account for how the exposure of specific data types can contribute to further risks or exploitation.

Contain the incident: Isolate affected systems and secure both digital and physical assets, including the data itself. Implement immediate measures to prevent further risk of harm, such as revoking unauthorized access, applying patches, or strengthening security controls. Determine whether the risk is ongoing or has been fully contained, and take appropriate action to mitigate further exposure.

2. Legal and regulatory requirements (data types and jurisdictions)

Jurisdictional awareness: Understand and track the privacy regulations relevant to your organization that may apply in the event of a breach, such as GDPR, CCPA, and HIPAA. These laws often specify timelines, reporting thresholds, and procedures for notifying affected parties and authorities.

Global considerations: If your organization operates across borders, adapt your response plan to comply with the laws of the jurisdictions it operates in and varying breach notification requirements.

Know your obligations: Be aware that legal obligations can vary between jurisdictions. For instance, every U.S. state has unique breach response laws, while regions like the European Union have overarching regulations that may supplement or supersede local rules. TrustArc’s Nymity Research and Breach Index can provide detailed guidance on these obligations.

3. Communication strategy

Proper investigation and response channels: Ensure all data breaches are handled through designated, secure channels to maintain confidentiality and accuracy in investigations.

Attorney-client privileged communications: Mark sensitive discussions, particularly those directed by legal counsel, as privileged to protect strategic legal responses and maintain compliance with regulatory requirements.

Stakeholder communication: Identify internal and potentially external stakeholders who may need to receive communications. Proper notification internally may include IT, legal, compliance, and executive leadership. External notifications may involve insurance providers, outside counsel, law enforcement, regulatory authorities, or other relevant third parties. Maintain a regularly reviewed and updated contact list with each stakeholder’s name, job title, email, and phone number.

Media and public relations: Develop a strategy to manage media inquiries and public perception making sure appropriate stakeholders review and approve public or external statements. Consider whether statements may jeopardize an investigation, break attorney-client privilege, harm the business, or be premature. While transparency and accountability are key to maintaining trust, avoid making definitive public disclosures until the situation is fully assessed.

4. Third-party vendor management

Know your vendors and their data processing activities: Identify all vendors who have access to your organization’s data and understand what types of personal information they process. Maintaining a vendor inventory helps assess risks and ensures compliance with privacy laws.

Vendor incident plans: Verify that third-party vendors handling personal data have robust breach response plans. Regularly assess their compliance with privacy standards.

Contractual obligations: Include clauses in vendor contracts specifying minimum baseline privacy and security controls, breach notification responsibilities, liability provisions, and obligations for data protection. This ensures that vendors meet regulatory requirements and align with your organization’s risk management strategies.

5. Breach categorization and testing

Incident categorization: Define clear categories for breaches based on severity, such as low, medium, and high risk. Each level should include different treatment, such as determining when legal counsel or the privacy team needs to be involved if the incident originated as a security incident. This helps prioritize responses and allocate resources effectively.

Simulated testing and scenario planning: Conduct regular simulations, including tabletop exercises and breach response drills, to evaluate the plan’s effectiveness and identify potential gaps. These exercises should cover a range of scenarios, such as phishing attacks, employee errors, or technical failures, ensuring the team is prepared for diverse threats.

6. Technology integration

Data identification and monitoring: Utilize advanced tools to first identify and classify data sources and types within your organization. Implement continuous monitoring systems to detect potential threats, assess actual risks, and flag anomalous activities in real time, ensuring proactive threat mitigation.

Automation: Leverage incident response tools to streamline threat detection, logging, and reporting.

Data forensics: Ensure your organization has access to forensic tools and expertise to investigate breaches and pinpoint their root causes.

7. Notification and remediation

Notify stakeholders: Transparency is essential and legally mandated in many cases. All communications should go through designated teams such as communications, public relations, and legal counsel to ensure messaging is clear, consistent, and aligned with regulatory requirements. Notifications should include details of the breach, steps taken to mitigate risks, and actions for individuals to protect themselves. Determine if law enforcement or government agencies need to be involved, especially if criminal activity is suspected. Using pre-approved templates will help ensure that notifications are structured, clear, and timely, reducing the risk of miscommunication.

Remediation measures: Provide affected individuals with support that is either required by law, customary (e.g., industry standard), or required under contract. Examples of remediation may include credit monitoring, identity theft protection, call centers with guidelines, tips on securing accounts, and other relevant assistance tailored to the nature of the breach. Address vulnerabilities that caused the breach with technical fixes or process improvements.

8. Post-incident improvement

Feedback loops: After resolving the incident, gather your team to review what happened and document lessons learned. Update your policies, training programs, and technologies in order to reduce the likelihood of occurrences.

Cultural considerations: Evaluate the response of affected individuals to determine whether the notification and remediation processes, including how notices were communicated and received, were sensitive to regional and cultural expectations, especially in cases of global operations.

Metrics for success: Establish or consider revising existing benchmarks for evaluating your breach response plan’s effectiveness, such as reduced breach impact, improved response times, and enhanced stakeholder trust.

Simulation exercises: If not already in place, conduct annual drills to ensure the response team is prepared and the response process is effective.

Board-level buy-in: If not already doing so, regularly present findings and updates to executives to secure ongoing support and resources for privacy initiatives.

Reducing the risk of privacy breaches

While a strong response plan is essential, prevention is even better. Strengthening security controls and implementing proactive measures can help reduce the likelihood of incidents. Key steps that may aid in risk reduction include:

Risk assessments: Regularly audit your systems, processes, and third-party vendors to identify vulnerabilities.

Data minimization: Collect only the data you need and securely dispose of it once it is no longer required.

Access controls: Implement strict access management to ensure only authorized personnel can handle sensitive data. Use multi-factor authentication (MFA) to strengthen authentication protocols and reduce unauthorized access risks.

Employee training: Train staff to recognize phishing attempts, handle personal information securely, and report suspected incidents promptly.

Encryption and monitoring: Encrypt data at rest and in transit to safeguard against unauthorized access. Implement real-time network monitoring to detect unusual activity before it escalates into a full-scale breach.

Network segmentation: Limit network access to authenticated devices to prevent attackers from moving laterally across systems.

Regulatory compliance: Regularly review your security measures through audits and assessments to ensure compliance with industry regulations. Conduct security audits of both internal measures and third-party vendors to identify vulnerabilities and enforce security standards.

Building confidence in incident response

In the words of Benjamin Franklin, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” Privacy professionals must be proactive, not reactive. A robust incident response plan equips your organization to navigate the complexities of breaches and incidents with confidence, transforming what could be chaos into order—like turning a stormy sea into calm waters.