What is a CSIRC?

CSIRC teams comprise cybersecurity experts who are trained to improve an organization’s reactive capabilities as well as take active steps to prevent future incidents from occurring.

The primary goal of a CSIRC is to protect an organization’s computer systems and networks from security breaches or attacks. This includes

• monitoring the organization’s systems for signs of potential security incidents
• identifying the scope and nature of any incidents that occur
• implementing appropriate measures to contain and mitigate the damage caused by the incident.
• resolving computer security issues in the most efficient and cost-effective manner
• developing and implementing security policies and procedures
• conducting security audits and risk assessments
• providing security awareness training and education to the employees

The need for a CSIRC in the evolving threat landscape

The increase in security incidents today shares a similar growth trend to the advances in computer technology. Technology is increasingly being exploited in the hands of attackers to fulfill their malicious intent. Businesses, therefore, need a Computer Security Incident Response Center (CSIRC) in the changing threat landscape as cyber threats are becoming more sophisticated, frequent, and malicious. The evolving threats require a CSIRC to be constantly on guard to improve response capabilities against cyber incidents by:

Real-time response: cyber threats escalate quickly, requiring an agile response strategy to minimize damage. A CSIRC can quickly detect and respond to incidents, reducing the impact of the attack and helping the business to recover quickly.

Comprehensive security: CSIRC constantly monitors the entire IT infrastructure, including networks, systems, and applications. This proactive approach can help to prevent incidents before they occur.

Continuous monitoring: CSIRC is on a 24X7 parole when it comes to protecting network infrastructure, helping businesses identify network anomalies, detect instructions or identify their system vulnerabilities before they can be exploited.

What are the CSIRC’s core roles and responsibilities?

Each organization’s CSIRC will have responsibilities specific to its needs. However, the broad-level expected responsibilities of a CSIRC are as follows:

• Identify the organization’s assets: the first step is to identify the organization’s assets (internal and external) that need to be protected. This includes hardware, software, data, and other critical resources.
• Evaluate the risks: once the assets have been identified, the next step is to evaluate the risks associated with them. The CSIRC needs to work in close coordination with the C-suite to report all planned penetration testing and vulnerability assessments. This includes identifying the potential threats and vulnerabilities that can compromise the security of the business’s assets.
• Improve incident response capabilities: CSIRC focuses on the most critical goal of incident response. The department is responsible for developing and maintaining the policies and procedures, in case an incident strikes and coordinating remediation, business-wide.
• Centralized reporting: the center is responsible to ensure timely reporting of security incidents, as well as disseminating incident-related information to users and the management. The center needs to maintain regular follow-up reports on the organization’s computer security incidents.
• Define the department goals and processes: the CSIRC goals should be aligned with the organization’s overall security strategy, risk appetite, and regulatory requirements. This may also include the department’s responsibility to intimate external sources, in case of an incident or obtain assistance, if necessary.
• Implement tools and processes supporting the agency’s computer security incident response capability and procedures to collect and safeguard evidence for use in legal or administrative functions.
• Develop an action plan:  that outlines the steps required to achieve the CSIRC goals. This includes identifying the resources required, assigning responsibilities, establishing tools and processes for incident response or collection of evidence, and timelines for completion.

How does the CSIRC share security information within an organization?

A CSIRC typically shares security information through all the business-wide departments and relevant stakeholders through the following:

1. Alerts: alerts are used to provide real-time information about security incidents or vulnerabilities that pose an immediate threat to the organization. These alerts can be sent via email, SMS, or other interaction systems.
2. Incident reports: these reports provide a detailed description of the nature of security incidents –  the cause, impact, and remediation steps are taken. Incident reports are usually shared with senior management, technical staff, and other stakeholders.
3. Training programs: CSIRCs may also conduct systemic training and awareness programs to educate staff and other stakeholders about cybersecurity risks and best practices.
4. Newsletters and internal communication channels: newsletters and internal comm channels are other ways to disseminate vital security information. These often include regular updates on security incident information, emerging threats, or top security risks that the teams should be in the know of.

Overall, the goal of disseminating security information is to ensure that concerned stakeholders have the information to stay risk-averse. The choice of the channel used to disseminate information depends on the employees, the confidentiality of the information, and the urgency of the situation.

What are the issues faced in setting up a CSIRC?

Setting up a Computer Security Incident Response Center (CSIRC) is a time-consuming, complex process, but also an essential one. Some of the issues that organizations may face when setting up a CSIRC include:

• Defining the scope: it is essential to define the scope of the CSIRC’s responsibilities and its operational boundaries. This includes identifying the types of incidents that the CSIRC will handle, the assets it will protect, the communication it needs to partake in, and the stakeholders it will serve.
• Funding and staffing issues: building and operating a CSIRC requires a significant investment in people, technology, and infrastructure. While the organizations can start slow at the outset, there are several capability/tool configurations and staffing and funding need that the company should deliberate on, all to understand CSIRC’s operational requirements and ensure its optimal performance.
• Effective reporting of incidents: the CSIRC, along with the other department teams needs to officiate a reporting plan to effectively communicate all vulnerability-related information. This includes setting up alert mechanisms, setting up an information repository with activity, incident logs, etc, notifying the relevant authority in case of an incident, and even collecting evidence for analysis.
• Developing policies and procedures: implementing policies and procedures is crucial to ensuring the smooth operation of the CSIRC. This includes defining incident response processes, communication protocols, escalation procedures, and reporting requirements.
• Compliance and legal requirements: CSIRCs may be subjected to various legal, compliance, and regulatory requirements, including data protection, privacy, and information security regulations. Ensuring compliance with these requirements and a clear expression of purpose and boundaries of involvement is essential to avoid legal and reputational risks.

What to know before establishing a CSIRC?

As cyber threats increase, it is vital for companies to establish a centralized and cost-effective CSRIC. While the capabilities can be honed internally, a smart, resourceful approach is to adopt a hybrid strategy. This combined both internal and external resources to quickly respond to incidents, and constantly monitor for the most persistent risks proactively.

Outsourcing a part of your incident response needs can greatly reduce the pressure, oversight, and recurring training and development costs associated with a CSIRC for your organization. In addition to that, your cybersecurity strategies are constantly aided by experienced cyber experts, with 24x7x365 threat triage and response capabilities.

Can Group-IB offer assistance?

As a globally-renowned cybersecurity veteran, Group-IB has dedicated cyber experts adept at offering comprehensive cybersecurity capabilities. Our round-the-clock emergency response team performs threat monitoring, helps contain threats – responds to thousands of security events yearly, and is assisted by our incident responders, forensic analysts, and investigation experts, thereby eliminating costly delays.

Leverage our leading investigation and incident response capabilities. Learn more about Incident Response here.