Incident Responders need soft skills as well as technical knowledge to manage cybersecurity incidents within an organization. It is critical for modern incident responders to be successful in communication, teamwork, quick thinking, patience, resilience, attention to detail, stress management, time management, continuous learning, and presentation skills. These competencies make it possible to respond quickly and effectively to incidents, minimizing damage and ensuring the safety of the organization.
Incident Responders are cybersecurity personnel who examine, monitor, and report security incidents and violations within an organization. Their main task in operations is to intervene in the incident as soon as possible and minimize the damage. An alert detected in security products is first examined by the L1 analyst and it is determined whether the alert is False Positive or True Positive. In the continuation of the investigations, alerts are transferred to Incident Responders according to the criticality level of the case. Their duties and responsibilities include monitoring alerts from various security products. One of their most important responsibilities while conducting these investigations is to identify the root cause of the alerts. Because it is inevitable to prevent the occurrence of similar alerts in the future if the cause of that event is not investigated well. If there are vulnerabilities in the system, they make the necessary reports to be resolved by the teams. In addition, if there is malware in the system, Incident Responders are responsible for deleting it and if there is a scheduled task created in the system, they are responsible for removing it from the system. Therefore, the root cause plays an important role. Incident Responders are critically important for organizations due to such duties and responsibilities.
Today, there are certain skills that modern Incident Responders must possess in order to be successful in their career. Some of these skills include technical competence while others include soft skills. The soft skills that an Incident Responder should have are shared below in detail.
It is important for an Incident Responder to have a high level of communication skills. Incident responders deal with critical case investigations as part of their duties. In such cases, personnel are usually in a race against time. Therefore, they are in constant contact with other teams. People who have communication problems with the teams can cause critical errors in case investigations. If they do not get in touch with different teams quickly, there can be irreversible mistakes for the organization. In addition to these situations, Incident Responders write reports at the end of case investigations. Although these reports are often technical, Incident Responders are sometimes expected to have good communication skills to explain these reports to managers and people in different teams. It is essential for an Incident Responder to have clear and concise communication skills to ensure that organizations are affected to a minimum by incidents. Healthy communication improves coordination between teams.
As part of their job, Incident Responders carry out many operations both within their own team and with different teams. Incident Responders often work together with departments such as IT, human resources, and law within the scope of their work. An effective collaboration will ensure that fast and accurate action is taken during the incident. It will enable teams to work towards a common goal. During a case investigation, they are in constant contact with people in different roles within the SOC team or with people from other teams to take the necessary measures in the incident. If this communication is not performed effectively, the organization will be more affected by the attack. The better and faster this teamwork is, the less damage the attack will cause. In addition, information sharing is important between teams. If the data obtained is shared quickly, the process of taking action will also accelerate.
Quick thinking is one of the most important soft skills required for Incident Responders. This skill enables personnel to make fast and effective decisions in case investigations. Especially in such critical incidents, they race against time. The ability of the Incident Responder to quickly assess the current situation, to perceive immediate and potential threats, and to respond effectively depends on the quality of this soft skill.
Another soft skill that an Incident Responder should have is patience. Because these cyber security personnel are involved in critical case investigations which often take a long time. Incident Responders may sometimes overlook details if they are not patient enough during these investigations. These cyber security incidents are usually complex and long and case review processes are often stressful. If Incident Responders do not remain calm and patient during these processes, there may be problems in case investigations. Being patient will enable the Incident Responder to avoid making wrong decisions in haste and to manage the incident in a healthy way. Patience also positively affects the working spirit within the team.
Resilience is a critical characteristic that an Incident Responder must possess. This is because Incident Responders often have to work under intense stress due to their duties and responsibilities. There is great pressure due to the criticality and potential impact of the incident. Resilience enables an Incident Responder to remain calm under such pressure and not give up in the face of adversity. In addition, resilience is critical due to the long working hours and the need for constant vigilance. This ability enables clear thinking, correct decision-making, and accurate interpretation of events, even in stressful situations. However, things are not always favorable in case studies. Sometimes there may be pressure or negative comments from managers or clients when things do not go well. Being resilient to such circumstances will prevent the situation from becoming more adverse. If Incident Responders are not resistant to such situations, the solution of the case will be negatively affected.
Attention to detail is one of the soft skills that an Incident Responder should possess. Because there is usually a solution scheme (playbook) that the personnel follow during case investigations. However, since these playbooks are written for general situations, they do not cover some specific conditions. In such cases, it is necessary to pay attention to the details in order to understand the cases and to take action. In cases where Incident Responders do not pay attention to details, there may be situations such as mistaking a true positive alert as a false positive. This can cause the attacker to operate freely in the target system. Also, examining a false positive case as a true positive causes a waste of time. Attention to detail prevents the waste of time and ensures that actions are taken in a shorter time.
Stress management is a very important soft skill for anyone working in cybersecurity, as it is a stressful field. Incident Responders have one of the most critical responsibilities in cybersecurity. Investigating a case is a process with stress and pressure at every stage from start to finish, sometimes caused by the personnel themselves. There is pressure to solve the case correctly and to resolve it with minimal damage. In addition, the process of handing off these cases to non-technical teams adds additional stress because these teams are usually concerned with why the attack occurred and whether there is damage. The process of the attack is irrelevant to them. In other words, they are not interested in what the incident responder did in the process. They are interested in the reasons why the incident happened, whether someone is at fault, and how much damage was done. If there is damage at the end of the process that affects the organization, they ask what caused it which results in additional stress.
There is often a race against time in the case investigation process. This causes extra pressure and stress on Incident Responders which should be managed in a healthy way. If they are bad at stress management, there will be problems in solving the case.
Furthermore, they should not only explain the incidents to the managers but also sometimes to the customers. If the customer does not possess technical knowledge, it will be even more difficult for the Incident Responder to explain the incident. This brings about a new source of stress. In such situations, staying as calm as possible is vital for the successful resolution of the incident. In other words, even if the personnel has the technical knowledge to solve an incident, they may not be able to show their full potential if they are bad at stress management.
Time management is another must-have soft skill for Incident Responders. In general, teams on the defense side of cyber security race against time. Because the organization will survive the incident with minimum damage if the attacks are detected, analyzed and the necessary actions are taken as soon as possible. Therefore, Incident Responders should prioritize the alerts according to their severity and start investigations. If the Incident Responder conducting an investigation is poor in time management, they may spend unnecessary time on some of the alerts. This means that more critical alerts are kept waiting to be examined. In some alerts, the attacker aims to spread in the network which means that the later it is detected, the more systems will be affected by the attack. Similarly, it means examining all the related systems one by one.
Cyber security is a constantly evolving and changing field. In particular, attack techniques and tools are evolving rapidly. In this dynamic environment, it is vital for Incident Responder to be open to continuous improvement. In order to cope with new threats and create an effective defense mechanism, Incident Responders must keep their skills up to date. These updates are of vital importance as they work in a field where the information that is valid today may lose its effect tomorrow. Incident Responders must stay informed about new cyber threats, vulnerabilities, and attacker techniques that are constantly emerging. This includes areas such as new malware, recent phishing attacks, and Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI). Continuous learning also leads to the development of analytical skills, which allows Incident Responders to analyze incidents more accurately.
With Incident Responder Learning Path, you can gain necessary skills to become a Incident Responder.
Presentation skills are also an extremely important soft skill for Incident Responders. As part of their role, they are often involved in critical meetings or events where they need to effectively explain what they have done or will do to managers or customers. Today, how you communicate your work is more important than what you do. Therefore, Incident Responders should have the ability to inform the authorities on both technical and non-technical issues. In addition, the report of the incident that occurred in the organization should be written by the Incident Responder. This report should sometimes be understandable by non-technical teams. High level of presentation skills are important for a good transfer of the incident to the authorities.
As a result, an Incident Responder's soft skills are as critical to success in cybersecurity as their technical knowledge and skills. A good Incident Responder not only detects an attack and minimizes damage, but also investigates the root cause of the incident, communicates effectively, fosters teamwork and remains calm under pressure. These traits, combined with continuous learning and self-improvement, enable Incident Responders to thrive in the complex and dynamic threat environment they face. As an Incident Responder, it is not enough to have technical knowledge; you must also have the soft skills to effectively manage, communicate and lead incidents. Therefore, Incident Responders who want to advance in their careers should continuously improve both their technical and soft skills and take steps to become an experts who will make a difference in the field. This article will be useful for anyone who wants to have an idea about becoming an Incident Responder.
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