Security Incident Response
Overview
Use this skill to run a structured response that minimizes blast radius, preserves evidence, and restores service safely.
Scope Boundaries
- Indicators of compromise or security alerts require investigation.
- Active abuse is suspected and containment decisions are needed.
- Security incident communications and recovery criteria must be formalized.
Templates And Assets
- Incident timeline template:
assets/security-incident-timeline-template.md
Inputs To Gather
- Detection source, initial evidence, and confidence level.
- Affected systems, data classes, and business criticality.
- Available responders and escalation contacts.
- Legal/compliance notification obligations and time limits.
Deliverables
- Incident timeline with key decisions and evidence references.
- Containment and eradication action plan with owner and deadline.
- Stakeholder communication record and regulatory decision log.
- Recovery validation checklist and follow-up prevention actions.
Workflow
- Classify severity using impact, exploitability, and blast-radius evidence.
- Start timeline capture with
assets/security-incident-timeline-template.md. - Establish a command structure (incident lead, forensic owner, comms owner).
- Contain actively exploited paths first, preserving forensic artifacts before destructive cleanup when feasible.
- Scope affected identities, services, data stores, and downstream dependencies.
- Eradicate root access path, rotate exposed credentials, and patch exploited weaknesses.
- Recover in staged rollout with explicit rollback criteria and heightened monitoring.
- Publish a post-incident action list with prevention owners and due dates.
Quality Standard
- Severity classification is evidence-based and revisited as facts evolve.
- Containment actions are traceable and reversible when possible.
- Evidence handling preserves chain-of-custody requirements.
- Recovery criteria include security validation, not only availability checks.
Failure Conditions
- Stop when roles and decision authority are unclear.
- Stop when evidence is being destroyed without explicit incident lead approval.
- Escalate when potential legal notification thresholds are crossed.