Trufe's 6-Phase Incident Response Framework
Phase 1: Preparation — This is the most important phase — and the one most organisations underinvest in. Preparation includes establishing an incident response team with clear roles and responsibilities, developing and documenting response playbooks for common incident types (ransomware, data breach, insider threat, DDoS), establishing communication protocols (internal escalation, executive briefing, legal counsel, regulatory notification, public relations), ensuring technical readiness (log aggregation, endpoint detection, forensic toolkits, backup systems), and conducting regular tabletop exercises and simulated incident drills.
Phase 2: Detection and Analysis — Rapid detection is the single greatest factor in limiting breach impact. This phase involves monitoring security telemetry from SIEM, EDR, NDR, and cloud security platforms; triaging alerts to distinguish true incidents from false positives; performing initial analysis to understand scope, severity, and attack vector; and classifying the incident by type and severity to trigger the appropriate response playbook.
Phase 3: Containment — Once an incident is confirmed, the priority is stopping the bleeding — preventing the attacker from expanding their foothold or exfiltrating more data. Containment strategies must balance speed against business disruption. Short-term containment might involve isolating affected systems, revoking compromised credentials, or blocking malicious IPs. Long-term containment involves applying temporary fixes that allow business operations to continue while the response team works toward eradication.
Phase 4: Eradication — With the incident contained, the focus shifts to removing the attacker's presence entirely — eliminating malware, closing exploited vulnerabilities, removing backdoors, and restoring compromised accounts. This phase requires thorough forensic analysis to ensure no persistence mechanisms remain.
Phase 5: Recovery — Systems are restored to normal operations through a controlled, validated process. This includes restoring from clean backups, rebuilding compromised systems, enhancing monitoring for any signs of re-compromise, and progressively returning to full operational status.
Phase 6: Post-Incident Review — Every incident — whether a near-miss or a full-blown breach — is a learning opportunity. We facilitate structured post-incident reviews that identify what worked, what didn't, and what must change. Findings are documented and fed back into preparation, improving playbooks, detection rules, and response procedures.