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Cyber Security

What is a Cyber Security Playbook, and How
Can it Benefit your Security Strategy?

You probably don’t need anyone to tell you that, to- the playbook means understanding the various types
day, information security and cyber security are chal- of circumstances one might find themselves in and
lenging and fast-paced endeavours. In the last five recognising them on the field to execute the correct
years alone, we’ve seen a myriad of industry-altering play at the right time.
developments – from an ever-expanding universe of
privacy compliance legislation and the permanent en- The analogy of football here is apt because security is
trenchment of hybrid and remote work to growth in ultimately a team sport, with everyone on the defen-
the size and scope of data breaches – the world of sive team (your team) needing to know their roles to
security has proven ever-complex and ever-shifting. ensure plays are well executed to mitigate the dam-
In a sea of constant change, security practitioners re- age actors can do to your organisation. Business-
quire some form of shelter. While security frameworks es use playbooks too, and it often makes sense for
and policies can serve this role during normal oper- specific business functions within an organisation to
ation, practitioners are best served by having docu- develop their own playbooks to ensure that they have
mentation and processes that help them respond to strategies they can rely on to standardise processes
security incidents. This has become increasingly im- and adequately respond to incidents and disruptions.
portant as the world of remote work has changed the
types of risks organisations face, requiring evaluation Why do you need a security playbook?
processes and perhaps an entire encyclopaedia’s In defining a playbook, we’ve already highlighted why
worth of edits to existing documentation. If you hav- a security playbook is an essential document for or-
en’t already established (or revisited) crucial aspects ganisations to have, especially given the rapid chang-
of your security program in light of these changes, es in the world of information security we mentioned
now is likely the time to begin putting your cyber se- above. For IT, infosec, and cyber security teams, a
curity playbook into place. security playbook allows for coordination before,
during, and after security incidents and business
What is a security playbook? disruptions. Although the creation of this playbook
The idea of a playbook, which comes from the world is spearheaded by security and technology teams,
of sports, like football, refers to a list of strategies or it contains organisation-wide ramifications, as it has
“plays” that are executed by a team in response to roles to play for everyone. From interns to the CEO,
conditions in the game. For a football player, studying security requires that everyone has their head in the

30 SERVICE DELIVERY REVIEW | Volume 15 • No. 1 of 2022