Incident Response Playbooks Every SMB Needs

A playbook is a short guide stating what to do, in what order and who decides when a given type of incident occurs. It is written calmly so it can be used under pressure, when improvising is costly.

• A playbook turns a confused reaction into executable steps.
• It must be short, with owners and up-to-date contacts.
• It is tested, reviewed and corrected through use.

What a playbook should contain

Each guide covers how the incident is detected, who declares it, what is done to contain and mitigate it, how it is communicated and how normal operation resumes. One page per scenario is usually enough.

Five scenarios to start with

1. Credential leak or compromise. Change affected access, end active sessions, review recent account use and confirm multi-factor authentication is on.
2. Malware or compromised device. Isolate the device from the network without abruptly powering it off, preserve evidence, assess scope and restore from a clean source.
3. Ransomware. Isolate devices, do not delete evidence, activate the recovery plan and rely on backups; see 3-2-1 backup.
4. Service tampering or denial of service. Identify the affected service, enable provider protections, communicate the situation and log the sequence of events.
5. Fraudulent email or impersonation. Report, block, notify exposed people and check whether any action was taken by mistake.

Roles and communication

Each guide should state who leads, who handles the technical work and who speaks to management, staff, customers and vendors. Where personal data is involved, assessing the applicable obligations belongs to legal counsel.

What to do

• Pick the two most likely scenarios for your organisation and write those playbooks first.
• Name an owner and a deputy for each guide.
• Keep a printed or offline copy in case systems are unavailable.
• Run one tabletop exercise a year with the team.
• Update after every incident or exercise.

Frequently asked questions

Is a playbook useful for a small team? Yes; precisely because there are few people, each should know their part.

Is it the same as a continuity plan? No. A playbook responds to a type of incident; a continuity plan defines how the organisation keeps operating. They complement each other.

Who should write them? Someone who knows the systems, with management validation.

To prioritise which scenarios to cover, see A risk matrix in one afternoon.

In our work with Chilean organizations, we see that short guides per incident type get used more than lengthy documents.

IT Lab supports Chilean organisations in this. Contact us.