What is the main goal of an incident response plan?

The main goal of an incident response plan is to reduce downtime when a security incident or breach occurs. An effective incident response plan provides a structured approach to handle various types of incidents, enabling an organization to respond quickly and efficiently. By outlining specific procedures, roles, and responsibilities, the plan helps minimize the impact of incidents on operations.

Reducing downtime is critical because every moment that systems are compromised can lead to data loss, financial repercussions, and damage to the organization's reputation. A well-prepared incident response team can swiftly identify, contain, and mitigate threats, allowing for a faster recovery and restoring normal operations.

While training employees and establishing regulations are important aspects of overall security strategy and management, they are not the primary focus of an incident response plan. Instead, the plan is specifically designed to address incidents effectively, aiming to minimize service disruption and ensure continuity of operations. Increasing system traffic is not relevant in the context of incident response, as the goal is to maintain or restore service rather than to enhance performance metrics in the face of an incident.