Infosecurity Europe 2018: Being the First to Respond in the Digital World

The world is full of first responders. You may not realize it, but you will know someone who is a first responder.

Typically, one would associate a first responder with the three main emergency professions: Ambulance, Police and Fire.

Within the Ambulance profession, that person who is first on the scene to deliver medical assistance to a poorly patient would be seen as a first responder.

Within the Police force, that first responder will be the police unit that will arrive first on scene to deal with whatever they are faced with, whether it’s a burglary that’s in progress or someone’s life that’s in danger. They are there to investigate and ascertain what happened.

And with the Fire brigade, they are there to respond at a moment’s notice to put out the fire, saving lives and people’s property.

There are so many examples of first responders out there in the world, including those who help keep the lights on by responding to power lines that have fallen and those who respond to demand and spikes in the electricity grid. As parents, we would be first to respond to a child who is poorly or needs our assistance or attention.

Within the IT world, there are similarities. There are people out there who respond to systems that are acting poorly. Perhaps the computer has a bug or virus that needs taking care of, similar to the first responders in the Ambulance profession.

When a security breach occurs, there will be a team that will respond and be first on the scene to investigate the incident and to prevent data loss or defacement to a website, similar to the role played by Police first responders.

And when things really go wrong and the fire needs putting out to prevent further breaches, (Read more...)