Website Incident Response

Website incident response is the coordinated process for handling an event such as suspected compromise, data exposure, or a prolonged service outage. Typical activities include identifying the problem, limiting further harm, preserving relevant evidence, communicating with responsible parties, restoring safe operation, and reviewing what happened. For a small service business, advance decisions about who can contact the host and access backups can reduce confusion during an outage. Incident response is not the same as disaster recovery, which focuses on restoring systems and data after a disruption. The appropriate response depends on the incident and applicable notification obligations; a checklist cannot replace specialist help when it is needed.