Cybersecurity | 7 min read
Incident Response Plan Template for Businesses: Roles, Runbooks, and Recovery
A concise incident response framework that improves speed, clarity, and post-incident learning.
An incident response plan template should reduce confusion at the worst possible moment. It needs clear ownership, escalation criteria, and communication paths.
Define incident severity and triggers
Standard severity levels improve triage and prevent overreaction or underreaction.
Assign response roles before incidents
Role clarity is often the difference between containment in hours and containment in days.
- Incident commander
- Security lead
- Infrastructure owner
- Communications and legal liaison
Create runbooks for top incident types
Prioritize likely events such as credential compromise, ransomware indicators, data exfiltration alerts, and service disruptions.
Run tabletop exercises quarterly
Testing exposes gaps in escalation timing, evidence collection, and external communication readiness.
Frequently Asked Questions
How often should incident plans be updated?
After every major incident and at least quarterly, especially when architecture or team structure changes.
What is the most overlooked part of incident readiness?
Cross-functional communication workflows with legal, leadership, and customer-facing teams.
Next Step
SenseSys can help build and exercise your incident response program with realistic scenarios.