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When a digital incident strikes—whether it’s a phishing breach, malware infection, or unauthorized account access—time is everything. The longer you wait, the greater the chance that damage spreads. Having a documented incident response plan is like keeping a fire extinguisher in the kitchen: you hope never to use it, but when flames appear, you can act quickly. Without that plan, small disruptions can snowball into long-term crises.

Step 1: Identify and Classify the Incident

The first step is detection. You need clear signals to recognize when something is wrong. Alerts may come from antivirus software, employee reports, or monitoring dashboards. Once detected, classify the issue: is it a minor anomaly, a data breach, or a denial-of-service attack? Categorizing the incident helps prioritize action. A phishing attempt caught early differs from a full-scale ransomware event. The ability to classify quickly comes from training and pre-defined severity levels.

Step 2: Contain the…