Incident Response for Cloud and On-Prem

In hybrid environments, cyber incidents can move between cloud services and on-site systems. A clear incident response plan helps teams act quickly and stay coordinated. This article offers practical steps you can use.

Be prepared

Prepare with a written IR playbook that covers detection, triage, containment, eradication, recovery, and lessons learned. Keep roles and contact lists current. Inventory key assets in both environments and ensure log sources feed a central view. Practice tabletop exercises to stress the plan.

  • Build and maintain an IR playbook that fits your tech stack
  • Maintain an up-to-date asset inventory for cloud and on-prem
  • Centralize logs from cloud providers, on-prem tools, and endpoints
  • Define alert priorities and runbooks for common incidents
  • Establish clear roles and communication channels

Detect, triage, and decide

Use centralized monitoring to spot unusual activity. Compare alerts to known baselines and verify potential incidents quickly. Do a quick impact assessment to decide containment steps and notification needs.

  • Collect and correlate logs from CloudTrail, CloudWatch, SIEM, and network sensors
  • Assign P1/P2 priorities and set escalation paths
  • Document initial scope and affected services

Contain, eradicate, and recover

Containment depends on the environment. In the cloud, you can limit blast radius by revoking keys and isolating instances. On the ground, segment networks and quarantine hosts. Eradicate by removing persistence, patching vulnerabilities, and applying new credentials. Plan recovery with validated backups and tests before bringing systems back.

  • Rotate credentials and block suspicious IPs
  • Apply patches and remove malware artifacts
  • Verify data integrity and run functional tests before full restoration

Learn and improve

After an incident, hold a short review. Update playbooks, adjust controls, and train teams. Share lessons learned with stakeholders and update detection rules. Invest in automation where possible, such as auto-isolation of compromised hosts or automated evidence collection. Keep external partners ready, including legal counsel, PR, and cloud vendor support.

Key Takeaways

  • A unified IR plan supports cloud and on-prem incidents
  • Centralized logging and clear roles speed response
  • Regular practice and reviews reduce future impact