ZeroTrustKerberosLink Incident Response Plan¶

Overview¶

This document outlines ZeroTrustKerberosLink's incident response plan for security incidents. It provides a structured approach to detecting, responding to, and recovering from security incidents that may affect the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of the ZeroTrustKerberosLink service or customer data.

Incident Classification¶

ZeroTrustKerberosLink classifies security incidents based on severity and impact:

Severity Levels¶

Impact Assessment¶

Each incident is assessed based on:

1. Scope: Number of affected customers or systems
2. Data Sensitivity: Type and sensitivity of potentially exposed data
3. Service Availability: Impact on service availability
4. Recovery Complexity: Difficulty and time required for recovery
5. Reputational Impact: Potential damage to customer trust and reputation

Incident Response Team¶

Team Structure¶

The ZeroTrustKerberosLink Incident Response Team includes:

• Incident Commander: Coordinates the overall response
• Security Lead: Provides security expertise and guidance
• Technical Lead: Directs technical investigation and remediation
• Communications Lead: Manages internal and external communications
• Legal Counsel: Provides legal guidance and compliance advice
• Customer Support Lead: Coordinates customer communications

Roles and Responsibilities¶

Incident Response Phases¶

1. Preparation¶

Ongoing activities to prepare for effective incident response:

• Regular security training for all team members
• Documentation of systems and data flows
• Development and testing of response procedures
• Establishment of communication channels
• Regular tabletop exercises and simulations
• Deployment of security monitoring tools

2. Detection and Analysis¶

Activities to identify and analyze potential security incidents:

Detection Sources¶

• Security monitoring systems
• Automated alerts from AWS CloudWatch
• Vulnerability scanning results
• Customer reports
• Threat intelligence feeds
• Unusual system behavior

Initial Analysis¶

function performInitialAnalysis(incident) {
    // Gather basic information
    const initialData = {
        detectionSource: incident.source,
        timestamp: incident.timestamp,
        affectedSystems: identifyAffectedSystems(incident),
        indicators: extractIndicators(incident)
    };

    // Perform preliminary impact assessment
    const preliminaryImpact = assessPreliminaryImpact(initialData);

    // Determine initial severity
    const initialSeverity = calculateInitialSeverity(preliminaryImpact);

    // Create initial incident record
    createIncidentRecord({
        ...initialData,
        severity: initialSeverity,
        preliminaryImpact: preliminaryImpact,
        status: 'investigating'
    });

    return initialSeverity;
}

Severity Determination¶

The initial severity is determined based on:

1. Type of systems affected
2. Potential data exposure
3. Service impact
4. Attack sophistication
5. Potential for escalation

3. Containment¶

Activities to limit the impact of the incident:

Immediate Containment¶

function performImmediateContainment(incident) {
    switch(incident.type) {
        case 'unauthorized_access':
            // Revoke compromised credentials
            revokeCompromisedCredentials(incident.affectedAccounts);
            // Block suspicious IP addresses
            blockSuspiciousIPs(incident.sourceIPs);
            break;

        case 'malware':
            // Isolate affected systems
            isolateAffectedSystems(incident.affectedSystems);
            // Block malicious domains
            blockMaliciousDomains(incident.indicators.domains);
            break;

        case 'data_exfiltration':
            // Block outbound connections
            blockOutboundConnections(incident.destinationIPs);
            // Revoke active sessions
            revokeActiveSessions(incident.affectedSystems);
            break;

        default:
            // Apply default containment measures
            applyDefaultContainment(incident);
    }

    // Document containment actions
    documentContainmentActions(incident);
}

Short-term Containment¶

• Implement network segregation
• Apply emergency patches
• Disable vulnerable features
• Increase monitoring and logging
• Implement additional authentication requirements

Evidence Preservation¶

• Create forensic copies of affected systems
• Preserve logs and monitoring data
• Document system state and configurations
• Maintain chain of custody for all evidence
• Capture volatile data before system changes

4. Eradication¶

Activities to remove the threat from the environment:

Root Cause Identification¶

function identifyRootCause(incident) {
    // Analyze forensic data
    const forensicResults = analyzeForensicData(incident.forensicData);

    // Review system logs
    const logAnalysis = analyzeSystemLogs(incident.systemLogs);

    // Examine network traffic
    const networkAnalysis = analyzeNetworkTraffic(incident.networkCaptures);

    // Correlate findings
    const correlatedFindings = correlateFindings([
        forensicResults,
        logAnalysis,
        networkAnalysis
    ]);

    // Identify entry point and attack path
    const rootCause = determineRootCause(correlatedFindings);

    // Document findings
    documentRootCauseAnalysis(incident, rootCause);

    return rootCause;
}

Remediation Planning¶

• Develop comprehensive remediation plan
• Prioritize actions based on risk
• Identify required resources
• Establish timeline for remediation
• Create verification procedures

Remediation Execution¶

• Remove malicious code or artifacts
• Reset compromised credentials
• Apply security patches
• Reconfigure affected systems
• Implement additional security controls

5. Recovery¶

Activities to restore systems to normal operation:

System Restoration¶

function restoreSystems(incident) {
    // Prioritize systems for restoration
    const restorationOrder = prioritizeSystemsForRestoration(incident.affectedSystems);

    // For each system in order
    for (const system of restorationOrder) {
        // Verify system is clean
        const isClean = verifySystemClean(system);

        if (!isClean) {
            // Additional cleaning required
            performAdditionalCleaning(system);
            continue;
        }

        // Restore from backup if needed
        if (system.requiresRestore) {
            restoreFromBackup(system);
        }

        // Apply security hardening
        applySecurityHardening(system);

        // Verify functionality
        const isFunction = verifyFunctionality(system);

        if (isFunction) {
            // Return to production
            returnToProduction(system);
        } else {
            // Troubleshoot restoration issues
            troubleshootRestorationIssues(system);
        }
    }

    // Document restoration activities
    documentRestorationActivities(incident);
}

Security Verification¶

• Perform vulnerability scanning
• Conduct penetration testing
• Review system configurations
• Verify monitoring and alerting
• Validate security controls

Phased Return to Production¶

• Implement heightened monitoring
• Gradually restore service components
• Verify each component before proceeding
• Monitor for signs of recurring issues
• Confirm normal operation

6. Post-Incident Activities¶

Activities after the incident is resolved:

Incident Documentation¶

• Complete incident timeline
• Document all response actions
• Record evidence collected
• Summarize impact assessment
• Prepare final incident report

Lessons Learned¶

function conductLessonsLearned(incident) {
    // Schedule lessons learned meeting
    scheduleLessonsLearnedMeeting(incident);

    // Prepare discussion points
    const discussionPoints = [
        'What happened?',
        'How effective was the response?',
        'What could be improved?',
        'What additional tools or resources are needed?',
        'What changes to procedures are required?'
    ];

    // Conduct meeting and document findings
    const findings = conductMeetingAndDocumentFindings(discussionPoints);

    // Identify action items
    const actionItems = identifyActionItems(findings);

    // Assign responsibilities
    assignResponsibilities(actionItems);

    // Set follow-up schedule
    setFollowUpSchedule(actionItems);

    // Document lessons learned
    documentLessonsLearned(incident, findings, actionItems);

    return actionItems;
}

Process Improvements¶

• Update incident response procedures
• Enhance detection capabilities
• Improve containment strategies
• Refine communication processes
• Address identified security gaps

Communication Plan¶

Internal Communication¶

External Communication¶

Communication Templates¶

ZeroTrustKerberosLink maintains pre-approved communication templates for:

• Initial incident notification
• Status updates
• Technical bulletins
• Customer notifications
• Regulatory disclosures
• Public statements
• Incident closure notifications

AWS-Specific Incident Response¶

AWS Service Disruption¶

For incidents involving AWS service disruptions:

1. Monitoring: Monitor AWS Health Dashboard and Service Health Dashboard
2. Assessment: Determine impact on ZeroTrustKerberosLink services
3. Mitigation: Implement service redundancy or failover if available
4. Communication: Notify customers of AWS-related service impacts
5. Coordination: Engage with AWS Support for resolution updates

AWS Security Incidents¶

For security incidents involving AWS resources:

1. Notification: Report security issues to AWS Security
2. Coordination: Collaborate with AWS Security team
3. Containment: Isolate affected AWS resources
4. Investigation: Work with AWS for forensic analysis
5. Remediation: Implement AWS-recommended security measures

Testing and Maintenance¶

Incident Response Testing¶

ZeroTrustKerberosLink regularly tests the incident response plan through:

• Tabletop exercises (quarterly)
• Functional drills (semi-annually)
• Full-scale simulations (annually)
• Red team exercises (annually)

Plan Maintenance¶

The incident response plan is maintained through:

• Regular reviews (quarterly)
• Post-incident updates
• Compliance requirement changes
• Organizational changes
• Technology environment changes

Appendices¶

Appendix A: Contact Information¶

Appendix B: Incident Response Checklist¶

Detection and Analysis¶

• Receive and document initial report
• Perform initial triage
• Assign incident severity
• Activate incident response team
• Establish incident command
• Document initial findings

Containment¶

• Implement immediate containment measures
• Preserve forensic evidence
• Implement short-term containment
• Document containment actions
• Assess containment effectiveness

Eradication¶

• Identify root cause
• Develop remediation plan
• Execute remediation actions
• Verify threat removal
• Document eradication activities

Recovery¶

• Develop recovery plan
• Restore affected systems
• Verify system security
• Return systems to production
• Document recovery activities

Post-Incident¶

• Complete incident documentation
• Conduct lessons learned meeting
• Identify process improvements
• Update incident response plan
• Share relevant findings with security community

Appendix C: Evidence Collection Guidelines¶

System Evidence¶

• System logs (authentication, application, security)
• Memory dumps
• Disk images
• Network captures
• Configuration files
• Running processes and services

Documentation Evidence¶

• Screenshots
• Incident notes
• Communication records
• Timeline of events
• Change management records
• Access logs

Chain of Custody¶

• Evidence identifier
• Date and time of collection
• Location of collection
• Collecting individual
• Description of evidence
• Storage location
• Access log

Conclusion¶

This incident response plan provides a comprehensive framework for detecting, responding to, and recovering from security incidents affecting ZeroTrustKerberosLink. By following this structured approach, the incident response team can effectively manage security incidents while minimizing impact on customers and maintaining the security and integrity of the service.