Episode 36 — Execute an incident response that contains damage quickly
The exam treats incident response as a rehearsed, evidence-driven sequence that limits blast radius and preserves facts for post-event analysis, not a vague promise to “investigate.” This episode clarifies the core components: roles and contact trees that are current and reachable, criteria for declaring an event versus an incident, containment playbooks for common payment threats, and chain-of-custody procedures that keep logs and images admissible for external review. You will connect these elements to artifacts the assessor expects to see—approved plans with version history, tabletop records, ticket timelines, notification templates for acquirers and brands, and decision logs that show who authorized each step and when. We emphasize that speed comes from pre-authorization and prebuilt actions, such as known-good firewall blocks, isolation methods for endpoints, and scripted queries in SIEM tools, because improvisation is too slow when card data may be at risk.
We expand into realistic paths and failure modes. A suspected web skimmer on a checkout page demands immediate traffic diversion to a clean version, verification of content integrity, and snapshotting of affected assets, followed by provider notifications when third-party scripts are involved. A POS fleet showing odd management beacons requires segment-level containment before device-by-device checks, coordinated with processor guidance. Troubleshooting focuses on gaps that derail responses: missing time synchronization that breaks event timelines, privileged staff who lack out-of-band access during containment, and legal or communications teams looped in too late. The exam favors answers that join fast technical containment with documented notifications, forensics-safe handling, and measurable recovery steps, followed by a lessons-learned update to controls and training so the same failure does not recur. Produced by BareMetalCyber.com, where you’ll find more cyber audio courses, books, and information to strengthen your educational path. Also, if you want to stay up to date with the latest news, visit DailyCyber.News for a newsletter you can use, and a daily podcast you can commute with.
