What is an incident response plan?

An incident response plan (IRP) defines how your organization detects, contains, investigates, and recovers from cybersecurity incidents. It establishes roles, severity classifications, response procedures, and communication protocols.

What is a tabletop exercise?

A tabletop exercise is a discussion-based walkthrough of a cybersecurity incident scenario. Participants work through their roles and decision-making without disrupting operations, identifying gaps and unrealistic assumptions in the plan.

How often should we test our incident response plan?

At minimum, conduct tabletop exercises annually with scenarios rotated to cover different incident types. Review the IRP at least annually and after any significant organizational or technology change. Update contact lists quarterly.

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Incident Response Planning

Genesis Solutions builds, tests, and maintains incident response capability — including IRP development, tabletop exercises with realistic scenarios, and readiness assessments aligned with NIST CSF, CIS Controls, and regulatory requirements.

What Is Incident Response Planning?

An incident response plan (IRP) defines how your organization detects, contains, investigates, and recovers from cybersecurity incidents. Organizations with tested plans contain breaches faster and at significantly lower cost than those without. We help you build, test, and maintain that capability.

What We Provide

IRP Development

A practical incident response plan covering:

Roles and responsibilities — Incident commander, technical lead, communications lead, legal/compliance, executive sponsor
Incident classification — Severity levels (Critical, High, Medium, Low) with response timeframes
Response procedures — Detection, containment, eradication, recovery, and post-incident steps for common scenarios
Communication plans — Internal notification chains, regulatory notification requirements, media protocols
Contact lists — Internal team, legal counsel, forensic investigators, insurance carrier, law enforcement

Tabletop Exercises

Discussion-based walkthroughs that test your IRP without disrupting operations:

Realistic scenarios — Ransomware, phishing compromise, insider threat, data breach, supply chain attack
Inject points — Complications introduced during the exercise to test decision-making under pressure
After-action review — Identify gaps, confusion, and unrealistic assumptions
Plan updates — Revise the IRP based on exercise findings

Readiness Assessments

Evaluate your current incident response capability:

Do you have an IRP? Is it current?
Are roles and contact lists up to date?
Have you conducted tabletop exercises in the past 12 months?
Are regulatory notification requirements documented?
Is evidence preservation addressed?

Compliance Context

Many frameworks and regulations require incident response capability:

NIST CSF — Respond and Recover functions
CIS Controls — Control 17 (Incident Response Management)
HIPAA — Contingency planning and incident procedures
PCI DSS — Requirement 12.10 (Incident Response Plan)
Cyber insurance — Most policies require an IRP and timely notification

Recommended Cadence

IRP review — At least annually, and after any significant organizational or technology change
Tabletop exercises — At least annually, with scenarios rotated to cover different incident types
Contact list updates — Quarterly, or whenever key personnel change

Ready to build or test your incident response capability? Schedule a scoping call.

How It Works

1

Assess current capability

Evaluate your existing incident response documentation, roles, contact lists, and exercise history to identify gaps.
2

Develop or update the IRP

Build a practical incident response plan covering roles, severity classifications, response procedures, communication plans, and contact lists.
3

Conduct tabletop exercises

Run discussion-based scenario walkthroughs with inject points to test decision-making, identify gaps, and validate the plan under pressure.
4

Refine and maintain

Update the IRP based on exercise findings, establish a recurring review cadence, and integrate with compliance framework requirements.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is an incident response plan?: An incident response plan (IRP) defines how your organization detects, contains, investigates, and recovers from cybersecurity incidents. It establishes roles, severity classifications, response procedures, and communication protocols.
What is a tabletop exercise?: A tabletop exercise is a discussion-based walkthrough of a cybersecurity incident scenario. Participants work through their roles and decision-making without disrupting operations, identifying gaps and unrealistic assumptions in the plan.
How often should we test our incident response plan?: At minimum, conduct tabletop exercises annually with scenarios rotated to cover different incident types. Review the IRP at least annually and after any significant organizational or technology change. Update contact lists quarterly.

Ready to get started?

Schedule a call to discuss your incident response planning needs. Transparent pricing, no surprises.

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