Before the Holiday Freeze: Why You Need an Incident Response Plan Now

As we head into the final weeks of the year, offices are quieting down. Key employees are starting their vacations, and IT and security teams are often running on skeleton crews.

Unfortunately, cybercriminals don’t take holidays.

In fact, they specifically target these quiet periods. Attackers know that with reduced staff, a company’s detection and response times will be slower. They are betting on confusion. A security incident on a normal Tuesday is a crisis; the same incident on December 24th is a catastrophe.

This is why having a clear, simple, and accessible Incident Response (IR) Plan is not just a best practice—it’s a critical business continuity tool for the holiday season.

What Is an Incident Response Plan?

An Incident Response (IR) plan is a playbook. It’s a document that outlines, step-by-step, exactly what to do and who to call the moment a security incident (like a ransomware attack or data breach) is suspected.

Its primary goal is to minimize damage, reduce recovery time, and prevent panic. When an analyst detects a breach at 2:00 AM, they shouldn’t be searching a company directory; they should be opening a playbook.

Why It’s Critical Right Now

Attackers are strategic. Major ransomware attacks are often launched on holiday weekends (like the Kaseya attack over the July 4th weekend) for one reason: to maximize their “dwell time” while a company scrambles to find the right people.

With key decision-makers on vacation, an IR plan answers the most vital questions:

Who is the primary contact for a security emergency this week?
Who is their backup?
Who has the authority to make a critical decision, like taking a server offline?
What is the first call that needs to be made?

Without these answers, confusion costs you valuable time and money.

Your 3 “Must-Haves” for a Holiday IR Plan

A full IR plan can be complex, but for the holiday break, you need to ensure these three items are accessible to your on-call team.

An “On-Call” Emergency Contact List: This is the most critical component. It must include the names, roles, and—most importantly—the personal cell phone numbers for the key stakeholders. This list should include:
- Head of IT/Security (and their designated backup)
- Key business/executive leader (to authorize major actions)
- Legal counsel (internal or external)
- Your cyber insurance provider’s 24/7 breach hotline
A Simple Communication Plan: If your company email is compromised or shut down, how will you communicate with your incident response team? You need a pre-established, out-of-band communication channel (e.g., a secure group chat on Signal or a text message tree).
Third-Party Retainer Information: If you use a third-party firm for incident response or forensics, their contract and emergency hotline number should be at the top of the plan. You don’t want to be negotiating terms of service while your network is locked down.

Final Thoughts

An Incident Response plan’s true value isn’t just as a document; it’s as a tool for providing calm and clarity in a moment of pure chaos.

In a crisis, the difference between a reaction and a response is this playbook.

A reaction is panic. It’s scrambling to find phone numbers. It’s asking, “Do I have the authority to shut this server down?” It’s a 45-minute delay while you try to find the CEO’s vacation contact, all while an attacker is actively encrypting your files.
A response is methodical. It’s “Step 1: Isolate the affected network segment. Step 2: Call the primary emergency contact. Step 3: Engage our third-party forensics team.”

During the holidays, this difference is magnified. The cost of a panicked reaction isn’t just a few lost minutes; it’s a delayed response that could last days instead of hours as you struggle to assemble a skeleton crew. This is precisely how a containable incident escalates into a reputation-damaging, revenue-losing catastrophe.

Don’t let your IR plan become “shelf-ware”—a document that exists only to check a compliance box. Before your teams break for the holiday, take one concrete action: Send the most critical parts of the plan—especially the emergency contact list—directly to every person on the on-call rotation. Ask them to save those numbers to their personal phones.

A plan that can’t be found and acted upon in 60 seconds is no plan at all.

Discussion

Does your organization run “tabletop exercises” to test its incident response plan?
What’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced in building an IR plan for holiday or after-hours coverage?

CODY KELLER