What is a digital forensics incident response plan?

A Digital Forensics and Incident Response (DFIR) plan uses evidence from past cyberattacks and integrates it with a response plan to contain, eradicate, and recover from an incident. Cybersecurity teams can create a reactive response plan that mitigates subsequent risks by understanding past attacks.  

A well-structured DFIR plan

Cloud Digital Forensics: Beyond Tools, Techniques, and Challenges describes digital forensics as focusing on "investigating and mitigating security incidents intrinsic to cloud environments," which involves identifying vulnerabilities while taking note of past attacks, regulatory compliance, and current security strategies. 

A DFIR plan helps companies manage the aftermath of a breach while preparing for future attacks. A plan may involve detecting, investigating, containing, and recovering from incidents while ensuring evidence is collected for any future legal action. With this approach, a DFIR helps limit damages and recovery time.

A well-structured DFIR plan rapidly monitors and addresses data breaches as soon as they occur. Because many attacks directly impact patient care and confidentiality, rapid response is necessary in the healthcare sector.

Healthcare data breaches are on the rise; 21 million people have had their data accessed over the last five years, and these breaches pose serious risks to patient care and hospital operations.

Once a breach is detected, the plan provides a roadmap for containment to prevent further unauthorized access or damage. This could involve isolating affected systems, revoking access permissions, or implementing emergency patches. Then, the focus shifts to removing the threat, which may require forensic analysis of the root cause for the breach and patching any vulnerabilities. 

See also: How does forensic analysis contribute to cybersecurity?

Strategies to implement an effective DFIR plan 

Preparation and policy development

1. Policy framework: Establish policies that define the scope, roles, responsibilities, and procedures for incident response.
2. Team formation: Create an incident response team (IRT) with members from IT, legal, compliance, and communications departments.
3. Tools and resources: Equip the IRT with digital forensics tools and resources, including software for data collection and analysis, secure storage for evidence, and encrypted communication channels.
4. Risk assessment: Regularly conduct risk assessments to identify threats to information systems and patient data.

Go deeper: How to perform a risk assessment

Containment, eradication, and recovery

1. Immediate containment: Implement strategies to isolate the impacted system to stop the spread like disconnecting devices from the network or shutting down affected systems.
2. Forensic analysis: Conduct a forensic analysis to determine the cause and extent of the incident. Preserve evidence according to legal and regulatory standards.
3. Eradication and recovery: Remove the cause of the incident, such as malware, and restore affected systems and data from backups.
4. Update security measures to prevent future incidents.

Post-incident activities

1. Comprehensive review: After an incident, conduct a detailed review of how it was managed, what was learned, and how the incident response plan can be improved.
2. Communication: Communicate with all stakeholders, including patients, employees, and regulators, about the nature of the incident and the steps taken to resolve it, while respecting privacy and legal considerations.

Continuous improvement

1. Feedback: Establish a feedback loop within the IRT to continuously improve the incident response plan based on new threats, technological advances, and lessons learned from past incidents.
2. Periodic testing: Regularly test the incident response plan through drills and simulations to ensure its effectiveness and the team's readiness.

FAQs

Who should be part of the Incident Response Team (IRT)?

The IRT should include members from various departments that may be impacted or can contribute to preparation and response, such as IT, legal, compliance, human resources, and communications. Each member plays a role in the incident response process, from technical analysis to legal considerations and external communications.

How often should a healthcare organization test its DFIR plan?

DFIR plans should be tested annually or whenever there are changes to the IT infrastructure or regulatory requirements.

How should a healthcare organization communicate during and after an incident?

Communication should be timely, accurate, and secure, by using tools like HIPAA compliant email or HIPAA compliant text messaging. Inform internal stakeholders, affected patients, and regulatory bodies while avoiding the dissemination of technical details that could compromise security further.