What Is an Incident Response Retainer?
Reading Time: 4 minutesDon’t have enough money to hire an IT team to protect your security? There might be another way to stave off hackers.
All businesses face cyberattacks. When successful, they not only cause disruption, but they also allow cybercriminals to steal private information which can cause harm to both a business and its customers.
Having a plan in place to deal with cyberattacks is obviously important. Many businesses create incident response plans to do exactly that. One alternative, however, is to purchase an incident response retainer instead.
So what is an incident response retainer and does your business need one?
What Is an Incident Response Retainer?
An incident response retainer is a service agreement with a cybersecurity provider—a contract stating that if a business is targeted by a cyberattack, the provider will arrange the services necessary to react to it.
An incident response retainer offers an alternative to hiring security staff to develop an incident response plan. They are ideal for small businesses who want to be prepared for such attacks but don’t have their own cybersecurity staff.
How Much Is an Incident Response Retainer?
Incident response retainers vary widely in price. Some providers also charge an upfront fee while others only charge after their services are necessary.
No Upfront Fee
Many providers offer retainers with no upfront fee. This type of retainer is simply an agreement to provide a service if necessary, and details what sort of services are included and how much those services cost.
Prepaid
Other providers require businesses to pay for a certain number of hours per year. These hours are then used in the event of a cyberattack. If one doesn’t occur, the hours can often be used for other services such as penetration testing.
What’s Included In an Incident Response Retainer?
An incident response retainer is typically designed to offer everything necessary to defend against a cyberattack. Exactly what is included will depend on price and what is expected to be needed. Here are the primary services that should be included.
Incident Planning
Any incident response retainer will include an incident response plan. This is simply a plan of action for dealing with common cyberattacks. The plan is typically developed together with the business’ management or IT staff. Most plans will include steps that the business also needs to take in the event of an attack.
Incident Classification
A retainer will include a security specialist who is available to classify any potential cyberattacks. This person will be on call and will determine if a security incident is a genuine attack and what needs to be done about it.
Incident Response
A retainer will include a security specialist or team that will respond appropriately to any attack. They are responsible for carrying out most steps of the incident response plan such as limiting damage, removing the threat, and recovering systems.
An incident response retainer will also include a detailed list of exactly what services are, and are not, included. Many retainers also include a guarantee that the provider will begin responding to an attack within a certain amount of time.
What Are the Advantages of an Incident Response Retainer?
Incident response retainers are increasingly popular cybersecurity products. Here are the advantages of paying for one.
Reduce the Cost of a Breach
The primary advantage of an incident response retainer is that it potentially reduces the cost of a cyberattack. A successful attack can be expensive in terms of both hours that a business is down and the theft of private information. Incident response retainers are designed to reduce the damage and may protect your business’ data in the event of a breach.
Business Is Not Distracted
Having an incident response retainer means that you are prepared for an attack. It also allows your staff to focus on other things. If somebody at your business believes that an attack is taking place, there is an expert available that they can contact, rather than trying to figure it out themselves.
No Need to Train or Hire Security Staff
Some businesses will benefit from having security staff, but it isn’t always practical. Small businesses in particular often cannot afford to hire IT experts. Purchasing an incident response retainer offers a more affordable alternative. It allows a business to benefit from security expertise without having to pay a security expert salary.
Price Is Predictable
Whether you opt to pay before or after, the price of a cyberattack, in terms of assistance, is known before it happens. If you don’t have a retainer, and you need to hire a company to respond to an attack, the price obviously varies. Incident response retainers are useful for companies who have limited budgets and want to know the price ahead of time.
Additional Services May Improve Defense
Prepaid retainers include the ability to hire the provider to perform additional services such as penetration testing. Many of these additional services are useful for finding vulnerabilities in your network and making it more difficult to attack. Opting for a retainer, and using all the hours, can therefore increase your business’ security posture.
Should You Outsource Incident Response?
Whether or not a business should outsource incident response depends on their size and budget. Outsourcing provides a way to get professional incident response without hiring staff. For smaller businesses, this can make more sense than hiring full time staff unnecessarily.
A large business may benefit more from having an in-house team. An in-house team will only be protecting one business, may have more specific knowledge about the threats that an individual business is facing, and can provide additional security services more often.
Incident Response Retainers Are Ideal for Small Businesses
An incident response retainer provides protection against cyberattacks. It allows a business to develop a professional incident response plan, and ensure that it is carried out properly, without the need to hire or train security staff.
An incident response retainer is particularly suitable for small businesses. Small businesses often don’t have security staff and it doesn’t always make sense to hire them. A retainer allows a small business to benefit from the same level of incident response planning at a lower price.
Reference: https://www.makeuseof.com/incident-response-retainer/
Ref: makeuseof
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