Security incidents are inevitable, but proactive preparation can significantly reduce their impact. The worst incidents— the ones that cause financial losses, brand damage, regulatory scrutiny, and prolonged recovery times— occur when organizations haven’t built and tested a comprehensive incident response plan. Investing in incident readiness before a crisis arises isn’t just a best practice— it’s a financial imperative.

The Cost of Incident Preparedness

Building security incident readiness requires upfront investment, whether handled internally or with external support. Organizations must:

• Assemble and support a Core Incident Response Team (CIRT) with the necessary time and resources.
• Develop cross-departmental policies and procedures that align security, IT, legal, communications, and leadership.
• Ensure security incident runbooks are up to date and actionable in real-world scenarios.
• Regularly conduct realistic incident response drills to improve coordination and execution under pressure.

The time spent refining policies, testing procedures, and training teams directly reduces response time, mitigates financial risk, and limits operational disruption when an incident inevitably occurs.

The Cost of Incident Response Without Preparation

Incident response is always less costly and disruptive when organizations have invested in preparedness. Without clear policies, assigned roles, and rehearsed procedures, teams are forced to figure out their response while the crisis unfolds— a situation that leads to delays, inefficiencies, and costly missteps.

A slow or disorganized response can result in:

• Greater breach impact, leading to higher regulatory fines and legal exposure.
• Increased revenue loss due to prolonged downtime and eroded customer trust.
• Reputation damage that affects shareholder confidence and market perception.
• Leadership consequences, as decision-makers face scrutiny for failing to mitigate preventable risks.

A Real-World Example

The 2016 Uber data breach demonstrates how poor incident handling compounds costs. Instead of managing the breach transparently, Uber attempted to cover it up— resulting in a $148 million settlement and a criminal conviction for its former Chief Security Officer.

IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach Report 2023 found that the global average cost of a data breach reached $4.45 million, marking a 15% increase over three years. For many organizations, that level of financial loss could be devastating.

Preparedness Turns a Crisis Into a Contained Incident

Incident preparedness isn’t exciting, but it’s essential— just like writing a will, purchasing insurance, or planning for natural disasters. Those who prepare navigate security events with confidence, while those who don’t face preventable crises with no plan in place.

If you have a plan, it’s an incident— and you know how to respond. If you don’t, it’s a crisis— and you’re already behind.

EPSD Can Help

We help organizations develop, refine, and test their incident response plans to ensure fast, coordinated, and effective action when security events occur. Contact us today to strengthen your incident preparedness.