Base Example Of A Markdown Incident TImeline

Ir_template.md

Cybersecurity Incident Report

Incident Overview

• Incident Title: [Descriptive Name of Incident]
• Incident ID: [Unique Identifier]
• Date of Detection: [YYYY-MM-DD]
• Incident Lead: [Name]
• Assigned Team: [Incident Response Team]
• Current Status: [Open | In Progress | Resolved]

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Executive Summary

• Summary:
  Provide a brief summary of the incident, including affected systems, potential impact, and high-level observations.

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Severity & Risk Assessment

• Incident Severity: [Low | Medium | High | Critical]
• Business Impact: [Description of affected services, data, or users]
• Data Sensitivity: [Sensitive | Confidential | Public | Unknown]
• Regulatory Impact: [GDPR, HIPAA, PCI, etc.]

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Timeline of Events

Date/Time (UTC)	Event	Description/Details	Investigator/Source
[YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM]	Detection	Detected [Suspicious Activity/Event]	[Name]
[YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM]	Initial Response	[Actions taken during initial response]	[Name]
[YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM]	Containment	[Actions taken to contain the incident]	[Name]
[YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM]	Eradication	[Actions taken to eradicate the threat]	[Name]
[YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM]	Recovery	[Recovery efforts, systems restored]	[Name]
[YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM]	Post-Incident Review	[Details of post-incident review]	[Name]

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Indicators of Compromise (IoCs)

• IP Addresses:
  • [IP Address 1]
  • [IP Address 2]
• Domains:
  • [malicious-domain.com]
• File Hashes:
  • MD5: [hash]
  • SHA256: [hash]
• URLs:
  • [http://malicious-url.com]
• Other:
  • [Any additional IoCs]

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Detection Details

• Detection Method: [IDS, SIEM, Antivirus, Employee Report, etc.]
• Source of Alert: [Name of tool/system]
• Alert Signature/Rule ID: [If applicable]
• Alert Details: [Brief summary of what triggered the detection]

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Internal & External Dependencies

• Impacted Systems/Services: [List internal systems, apps, and services]
• Third-Party Vendors: [List any external dependencies involved]
• Cloud Services: [Identify cloud environments involved (e.g., AWS, Azure)]

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Stakeholder Communications

Date/Time (UTC)	Stakeholder	Summary of Communication	Medium (Email, Call, Meeting)	Notes
[YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM]	[Stakeholder Name]	[Summary]	[Email/Call]	[Notes]

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Artifacts Collected

• Logs:
  • [Location/File Name] - [Brief Description]
• Malware Samples:
  • [Sample Name/Hash] - [Brief Description]
• Screenshots:
  • [Image file name] - [Context or Notes]
• System Images:
  • [Description of collected images, e.g., “Full system image of server XYZ”]
• Memory Dumps:
  • [Details of memory dump collected]

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Investigation Notes

• Detailed Findings:

  • [Include any detailed notes and observations from the investigation]

• Key Observations:

  • [Any notable behaviors, correlations with other incidents, etc.]

• Triage Results:

  • [Findings from triage efforts, including severity and urgency]

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Mitigation & Containment Actions

• Immediate Actions Taken:

  • [Action 1]
  • [Action 2]

• Containment Strategy:

  • [Strategy used to isolate the threat, e.g., firewall rule changes, account lockouts]

• Mitigation Techniques Applied:

  • [Technique 1]
  • [Technique 2]

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Pending Items / Open Questions

• Pending Questions:

  • [Example: "Has lateral movement occurred?"]
  • [Example: "Are backups of affected systems available?"]

• Outstanding Actions:

  • [Example: "Complete malware analysis of collected samples"]
  • [Example: "Verify the integrity of recovered systems"]

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Eradication & Recovery Steps

• Eradication Actions:

  • [Action 1]
  • [Action 2]

• Systems Recovered:

  • [System Name] - [Recovery Date]

• Post-Eradication Testing:

  • [Tests performed to ensure no residual threat remains]

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Post-Incident Testing & Validation

• Vulnerability Scans Performed: [Yes/No]
• Penetration Testing: [Yes/No]
• Validation Results: [Details of post-recovery tests to ensure threats have been eliminated]

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Detection Gaps & Improvements

• Missed Indicators: [Any IoCs missed by detection tools]
• Detection Gaps: [Where the detection system could have performed better]
• Proposed Improvements: [Changes to detection rules, tools, or processes]

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Post-Incident Review

• Root Cause Analysis:

  • [Analysis of how the incident occurred, attack vector, and contributing factors]

• Lessons Learned:

  • [Important takeaways and improvements for future response]

• Recommendations:

  • [Security control improvements, patching, process changes, etc.]

• Prevention Steps:

  • [Measures to prevent similar incidents in the future, e.g., implement multi-factor authentication]

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Incident Escalation

• Escalation Path: [Teams/individuals involved in escalating the incident]
• Date of Escalation: [YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM]
• Escalation Details: [Reason and summary of escalation]

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External Communications Plan

• Public/Customer Notification Needed? [Yes/No]
• Drafted Public Statement: [Include if relevant]
• Media or Legal Involvement: [Yes/No, and details if necessary]

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Regulatory & Compliance Reporting

• Reportable Incident? [Yes/No]
• Deadline for Notification: [Date/Time]
• Regulatory Body Notified: [Body Name, e.g., GDPR, CCPA]
• Reporting Details: [Date and summary of notification sent]

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Incident KPIs and Metrics

• Mean Time to Detection (MTTD): [Time from compromise to detection]
• Mean Time to Resolution (MTTR): [Time from detection to resolution]
• Affected Users: [Number of impacted users/systems]
• Downtime Duration: [Total downtime experienced]

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Conclusion

• Final Resolution Date: [YYYY-MM-DD]
• Final Status: [Resolved | Mitigated | Ongoing]
• Notes:
  • [Any additional final thoughts or documentation, e.g., the incident is under continued monitoring]