Jan 25, 2023
Five Incident Response Metrics you Should be Recording
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Top 5 Cybersecurity Incident Response Metrics to Track
Data analytics have become critical for enterprises in almost all industries as enterprises look to identify trends and make operational adjustments based on actionable information. Security operations are no different; in fact, determining the human resources needed to manage security alerts and pinpointing what adjustments to technology or processes are necessary is crucial to continuously improving SecOps.
In cybersecurity, as with any vertical, it is critical to choose the metrics that make the most sense for your organization. But some incident response metrics, like the five listed below, are relevant to almost every organization:
1. Mean Time to Detect (MTTD)
MTTD measures the average time your security team takes to detect a security incident. This metric provides valuable insights into how effective your detection tools and processes are. A faster detection time ensures that malicious actors spend less time in your systems, reducing the potential damage. MTTD is calculated by adding the total detection time for all incidents within a given period and dividing it by the number of incidents. For example, if it takes 1000 minutes to detect 10 incidents, the MTTD would be 100 minutes.
2. Mean Time to Acknowledge (MTTA)
MTTA refers to the time between when an alert is generated and when a team member acknowledges it. It helps gauge how well your team is prioritizing alerts and responding to incidents. A lower MTTA indicates that your team is responding quickly and efficiently, while a higher MTTA may suggest delays in response. You can measure MTTA by tracking the time between the alert generation and the start of the team’s action on the alert.
3. Mean Time to Recovery (MTTR)
MTTR measures how long it takes to restore normal operations after a security incident. This metric reflects how quickly your incident response team can remediate threats and minimize downtime. A lower MTTR ensures a faster recovery process, reducing the impact on business operations and customer satisfaction. MTTR is calculated by summing the total downtime caused by incidents over a period and dividing by the number of incidents.
4. False positive rates:
The percentage of alerts that upon investigation are revealed to not be valid threats. False positives reduce a security team’s confidence in its tools and draws attention away from serious underlying problems. False positive feedback loops should be included in any incident management process, but enterprises must guard against becoming too lenient; the only thing worse than a false positive is a false negative in which a serious threat is overlooked because a tool was turned down too far.
5. Mean Time to Contain (MTTC)
MTTC represents the total time it takes to detect, acknowledge, and fully contain a security incident. This metric provides a holistic view of how well your team handles an incident, from identification to containment. A shorter MTTC reflects a fast and efficient incident response process that minimizes potential harm. To calculate MTTC, sum the total hours spent on detection, acknowledgment, and containment, and divide by the number of incidents.
Bonus Incident Management Metric
Security vs. administrative tasks: How much time does your staff spend doing the specialized security operations you hired them to do?
If these experts are spending hours on ticket management, email notification and other non-security work, you are not getting optimal return on your capital investment. This incident response metric can be significantly improved by leveraging a security automation platform that can automatically resolve high volume, low complexity tasks—essentially administrative—tasks.
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