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Cybersecurity & Risk Management

Incident Response Services

When a breach hits, our responders contain the threat, investigate root cause, preserve evidence and restore systems, then help you strengthen defences and prepare the notifications regulators expect.

  • Rapid containment
  • Forensic investigation
  • Recovery support
  • Post-incident review
Years of delivery
8+
Years of delivery
Projects shipped
350+
Projects shipped
Clients across US, UK, AU & SG
200+
Clients across US, UK, AU & SG

What’s included

Everything You Need to Contain, Investigate and Recover From a Breach

Rapid expert response when an incident hits, plus the preparation and lessons that reduce the next one.

  • Incident Response Plan & Playbook Development

    We create tailored response plans for ransomware, data breach and insider threat, with clear roles and decision paths.

    • IR plan
    • Scenario playbooks

  • Incident Response Retainer & Emergency Hotline

    Pre-agreed access to responders means you get help fast when an attack starts, with no vendor search or contract delay.

    • IR retainer
    • Emergency contact line

  • Incident Triage, Scoping & Rapid Containment

    We confirm what happened, isolate affected systems and stop the spread, protecting operations and limiting business damage.

    • Containment actions
    • Initial scope summary

  • Digital Forensics & Root Cause Analysis

    We preserve evidence and trace how attackers got in, what they accessed and whether they remain.

    • Forensic findings
    • Attack timeline

  • Malware, Ransomware & Threat Actor Analysis

    We analyse malicious code and attacker techniques to guide eradication and block repeat attacks on your network.

    • Malware analysis
    • Indicators of compromise

  • Eradication, Recovery & Business Restoration

    We remove attacker access, rebuild affected systems and verify clean restoration so you return to normal operations safely.

    • Recovery checklist
    • Clean-state verification

  • Breach Notification & Regulatory Reporting Support

    We help you prepare facts and timelines for regulators, insurers, customers and legal counsel, including GDPR notification windows.

    • Incident report
    • Notification briefing

  • Post-Incident Review & Tabletop Exercises

    We deliver lessons learned, hardening actions and executive tabletop drills, so your team responds better next time.

    • Lessons learned report
    • Tabletop exercise

Need something specific?

Why Kramate

Why Business Owners Choose Kramate When an Attack Hits

Calm, clear help on the worst day, and a plan to stop it happening twice.

  • Help Is Already Arranged

    Instead of

    searching for help while your systems burn

    With Kramate

    You can set up a standing arrangement now, so you know who to call when it happens.

  • Calm Voices in a Crisis

    Instead of: panic and shouting when something goes wrong

    With Kramate: We tell you plainly what happened, what we are doing and what you need to decide.

  • We Keep Your Business Running

    Instead of: shutting everything down just to be safe

    With Kramate: We stop the spread while keeping as much of your business running as we can.

  • Help Telling Customers and Regulators

    Instead of: not knowing who to tell or what to say

    With Kramate: We help you gather the facts you need to tell customers, insurers and regulators.

  • Practice Drills Before the Real Thing

    Instead of: a plan nobody has ever tried out

    With Kramate: We run a pretend attack with your leaders, so everyone knows their part in advance.

Our approach

How We Handle Incident Response, Step by Step

When you are attacked, we help you stop it, recover and learn from it.

6 clear steps 6 deliverables you keep

  1. Emergency Triage

    We take your first call, learn what is happening and agree what to do in the next hour.

    You receive: Triage notes

    You tell us what you have seen

  2. Stop the Spread

    We keep the attack from spreading. We unplug hit computers, lock accounts and shut the attacker out.

    You receive: Containment actions

    You approve urgent shutdown decisions

  3. Trace the Attack

    We work out how the attacker got in, what they touched and whether data was taken.

    You receive: Evidence log

    You give us access to affected systems

  4. Clean-Up and Recovery

    We remove the attacker, repair systems and restore clean data so you can work again.

    You receive: Restored systems

    You confirm what must return first

  5. Incident Report

    We write what happened and when, in plain words that managers, insurers and regulators can read.

    You receive: Incident report

    You review the report

  6. Lessons Learned

    We review what failed, then update your defences and response plan to reduce the chance of a repeat.

    You receive: Prevention plan

    You agree the follow-up actions

Tools & technologies

Technologies We Use for Incident Response

We use forensic, log and recovery tools to contain incidents and restore services.

  • Wireshark: Inspects network traffic to spot misuse and misconfiguration.
  • Kali Linux: A toolkit environment used for authorised security testing.
  • Velociraptor: Collects forensic evidence from many devices during an investigation.
  • Python: Readable language for business logic, data and automation.
  • Elastic: Searches and analyses security logs at scale.
  • Splunk: Searches and analyses logs to find issues and threats.
  • Wazuh: Open-source monitoring of servers and devices for threats and drift.
  • PagerDuty: Alerts the right on-call person when something breaks.
  • Jira: Tracks work, priorities and delivery progress.
  • MITRE ATT&CK: A shared catalogue of attacker techniques used to plan detection.
  • AWS: Amazon cloud hosting and services.
  • Azure: Microsoft cloud hosting and services.
  • Terraform: Defines cloud setups as code so they can be repeated.
  • Ansible: Automates server setup and configuration without manual steps.

Expert guide

Incident Response Services: A Complete Guide for Businesses

Incident response services help an organization prepare for, handle and learn from a security incident such as ransomware, a compromised account or a data leak. The aim is to limit harm, restore operations, preserve evidence and meet legal duties, while staying in control of decisions.

Good response is mostly preparation, and that is why incident response services often begin before any incident, with plans, contacts, access and rehearsals. Teams that know who decides, where the backups are, and whom to call act in an orderly way; teams that improvise lose time.

This guide covers the response phases, the first hours, retainer and on-demand models, evidence handling, breach-notification considerations in the USA, UK, Australia and Singapore, and how to choose a provider.

What incident response services cover

Services fall into two groups. Readiness work includes plans, playbooks, role definitions, contact lists, logging checks and rehearsals. Active response includes triage, containment, investigation, eradication, recovery support and a written review afterward.

An incident is any event that threatens confidentiality, integrity or availability and needs a coordinated response. Many are routine, such as one phished account, and a good plan keeps those small.

The phases of incident response

The NIST SP 800-61 Incident Handling Guide (opens in a new tab) describes a life cycle that most teams adapt:

  1. Preparation: plans, tools, access, training and contacts in place before anything happens.
  2. Detection and analysis: confirm what happened, how far it reaches and how severe it is.
  3. Containment: stop the spread, for example by isolating systems or disabling accounts.
  4. Eradication: remove the cause, such as malware or a stolen credential.
  5. Recovery: restore systems from clean sources and watch for recurrence.
  6. Post-incident review: record what worked, what failed and what changes.

Real incidents loop back through these steps rather than moving in a straight line. The FIRST CSIRT Services Framework (opens in a new tab) lists the broader services a response team may offer.

The first hours: a calm checklist

Early decisions shape everything that follows. These steps suit most organizations, though a plan tailored to your systems is better.

  • Start a log. Record who did what and when, and keep it in a place the attacker cannot reach.
  • Form the response group. Name an incident lead, a technical lead, a communications lead and a decision-maker.
  • Preserve evidence. Avoid wiping or rebuilding systems before images and logs are captured.
  • Contain proportionately. Isolate affected systems and reset exposed credentials, balancing speed against business impact.
  • Use out-of-band communication, since email may be compromised.
  • Involve legal counsel and insurers early; policies often require prompt notice.
  • Protect backups and verify they are clean before any restore.

Retainer, on-demand and in-house models

Incident response engagement models
ModelHow it worksStrengthWatch for
Retainer Pre-agreed terms, contacts and onboarding with a response provider Fast start; provider already knows your environment Check what the retainer includes and how unused time is used
On-demand Call a provider when an incident happens No upfront commitment Contracting and onboarding happen during a crisis
In-house plus support Your team leads, with outside experts for forensics or surge capacity Keeps knowledge internal Needs trained staff and tested playbooks

Cyber insurance may specify approved response firms, so read the policy before choosing a retainer. For ongoing detection that feeds response, see managed SOC services.

Preparation that pays off in a real incident

  • Write short playbooks for likely scenarios: ransomware, account takeover, data leak, lost device.
  • Run tabletop exercises. A facilitated discussion of a plausible scenario reveals gaps in roles and contacts at little cost.
  • Test restores, not just backups; an untested backup is a hope.
  • Check logging and retention so investigators can see what happened.
  • Strengthen the basics that limit damage: identity and access management, tested backups and data encryption.
  • Keep an offline contact sheet with phone numbers for legal, insurer, providers and executives.

Ransomware in particular is covered by practical guidance from CISA StopRansomware (opens in a new tab) and the UK NCSC (opens in a new tab), which are worth reading ahead of time. Adversary behavior catalogs such as MITRE ATT&CK (opens in a new tab) help investigators describe what they find.

Notification duties: USA, UK, Australia and Singapore

When personal data is involved, legal clocks can start before the investigation ends. The details vary and change, so involve counsel early.

Assign someone to track every deadline, and keep decisions about what to disclose and when with qualified legal advisers.

Where AI helps during response

Automation speeds up log search, timeline building and alert correlation, and AI assistants can draft summaries for review. Take care not to paste sensitive evidence into tools whose data handling you have not checked, and treat any generated conclusion as a lead to verify.

Cost factors and budget planning

Active response cost depends on how many systems are affected, how much forensic work is needed, how long containment takes and how many experts are involved. Retainers convert some of that variability into a planned fee. Remember the adjacent costs: legal advice, communications, downtime and rebuilding.

Preparation is the most predictable spend. Plans, exercises and logging improvements are modest compared with improvising during an event.

How to choose incident response services

  • How quickly can they begin, and who answers the phone?
  • Will they work alongside your legal counsel and insurer?
  • How do they preserve evidence and document findings?
  • Do they help with recovery and hardening, such as cybersecurity consulting afterward?
  • Can they explain findings in plain language to executives?
  • What confidentiality terms apply to the data they access?

How Kramate delivers incident response services

Every conversation starts under an NDA, and the first consultation is free. A detailed estimate arrives within 24 hours, and you may choose fixed-price, dedicated-team or hourly terms. A dedicated project manager coordinates the work, daily Slack or Teams updates keep stakeholders aligned, and each two-week round closes with a review, which suits readiness work such as playbooks and exercises. You own everything we produce. See our delivery approach.

Four to six hours of overlap with US Eastern time and a full working day with the UK, Australia and Singapore support coordination across regions. Kramate can lead the technical work or embed with your IT team. Our practices include least-privilege access and encrypted devices.

Frequently asked questions

What should we do first after a cyber attack?

Start a written log, assemble your response group, preserve evidence, contain affected systems in proportion to the risk, and contact legal counsel and your insurer. Avoid wiping systems before evidence is captured.

What is an incident response plan?

A short document naming roles, contacts, decision authority and step-by-step actions for likely scenarios. It should be rehearsed and kept accessible offline so it works when email and shared drives do not.

What are the phases of incident response?

Preparation, detection and analysis, containment, eradication, recovery and post-incident review, as described in NIST SP 800-61. In real events teams move back and forth between phases as they learn more.

Is an incident response retainer worth it?

It helps when you want fast mobilization and a provider who already knows your systems. Check what hours, services and response times are included, and whether your insurer expects a particular provider.

When must a data breach be reported?

It depends on the law and the data involved. The UK has a window of 72 hours for certain breaches, while Australia and Singapore have their own tests for notifiable breaches, and US states vary. Get legal advice early.

How do we run a tabletop exercise?

Pick a plausible scenario, gather decision-makers, and walk through it step by step with a facilitator who adds new facts. Record unclear roles and missing contacts, then update the plan.

Sources and further reading

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Cost depends on whether you need emergency help or a retainer, the number of affected systems, the type of incident, evidence volume and the time needed for investigation and recovery. Retainers and readiness planning are priced differently from live incidents. Send us your incident response scope and a no-obligation estimate follows within 24 hours.

We confirm scope, contain the threat, collect evidence, find root cause, remove access and help restore systems, then deliver a report and lessons learned. Duration depends on how far the attacker spread, how good your logs are and how fast systems can be rebuilt.

Before detailed incident response talks, Kramate signs an NDA, and evidence is handled under strict access and chain-of-custody. The incident report and all deliverables are transferred to you as your IP. If legal counsel is involved, we can work under their direction.

We coordinate with your IT staff, use your logs and tools, and share findings in a form your lawyers and insurer can use. We agree a single communication channel and a lead contact so decisions move fast during an event.

Isolate affected devices from the network but keep them powered on, preserve logs, change compromised credentials, and avoid wiping systems. Contact your response team and, where needed, legal counsel. Note times and actions taken, since this record helps the investigation.

A plan names who decides, who calls whom and how to contain and recover, so you do not improvise under pressure. Practising it with a tabletop exercise exposes gaps. Organisations with clear roles tend to respond more calmly and keep better records.

Many laws and contracts require notice of certain breaches within set times, depending on country, industry and data type. Your lawyers decide what applies. We supply the technical facts, timeline and scope of affected data that they need to make notifications.

Taking new projects

Let’s talk about your Incident Response Services needs

Tell us about your project and get a free consultation and estimate within 24 hours.

  1. We reply within 4 business hours A real consultant reads your brief — no bot, no queue.
  2. 30-minute discovery call We dig into goals, constraints and budget. NDA signed on request.
  3. Proposal in 24 hours Scope, timeline, team and price — clear enough to decide on.
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