In today’s rapidly shifting threat landscape, simply having sophisticated security tools isn’t enough; organizations must be prepared to act with precision when those tools signal a crisis. This white paper from Mandiant, "Best practices for incident response planning," draws on over 20 years of frontline breach response experience to provide a roadmap for building a resilient, actionable incident response plan (IRP).
The guide explores why many existing plans fail during real-world attacks—often due to being outdated, untested, or overly complex—and offers practical strategies to transform a reactive security posture into a proactive one.
What You’ll Learn
- The Business Imperative: Why an IRP is both a technical necessity and an executive-level requirement for minimizing business disruption.
- The Anatomy of a Strong Plan: Key elements your IRP must include, from executive sponsorship and defined severity levels to standardized playbooks for scenarios like ransomware and cloud breaches.
- Addressing Modern Complexity: Strategies for maintaining visibility across hybrid and multi-cloud environments (including Google Cloud, AWS, and Azure).
- Small Business Readiness: How organizations with limited resources can build a "minimum viable plan" using the NIST framework.
- The Mandiant Advantage: How a Mandiant Retainer provides immediate access to experts within two hours and helps surface blind spots before an incident occurs.
- Why Preparedness Matters Now
- Recent M-Trends 2025 research highlights a concerning shift: the median dwell time for attackers rose to 11 days in 2024. Without a tested plan, attackers gain more time to move laterally, exfiltrate data, or encrypt vital systems.
"Without a tested, actionable incident response plan, attackers can linger deep inside the environment when rapid action is paramount." — Ryan Fried, Principal Security Consultant, Mandiant.
Download the full white paper to ensure your team has the clarity and structure needed to act decisively under pressure. Keeping a copy for future reference will help you continuously refine your response strategy as your organization grows.