Cybersecurity Incident Response Playbooks

Cyberattacks continue to evolve in sophistication, frequency, and business impact. Organizations face ransomware attacks, cloud breaches, insider threats, supply chain compromises, AI-driven attacks, and advanced persistent threats that can disrupt operations and damage reputations. Effective incident response is no longer optional; it is a critical business capability.

This book provides a practical approach to cybersecurity incident response, covering threat landscapes, incident handling methodologies, forensic readiness, response playbooks, threat intelligence integration, cloud security incidents, post-incident recovery, and the use of artificial intelligence in modern threat detection and response. Readers will learn how to prepare organizations for cyber incidents, detect threats efficiently, contain and eradicate attacks, preserve forensic evidence, and continuously improve security operations. Real-world examples, industry frameworks, and operational best practices are incorporated throughout the book.

By the end of this book, readers will be equipped to design, implement, and mature incident response programs capable of handling modern cybersecurity challenges while improving organizational resilience and recovery capabilities.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN
● Build effective cybersecurity incident response capabilities.
● Develop and maintain incident response playbooks.
● Understand AI-driven and modern cyber-attack techniques.
● Implement forensic readiness across enterprise environments.
● Improve incident detection, containment, and eradication processes.
● Integrate threat intelligence into response operations.
● Apply AI to strengthen threat detection and response.

WHO THIS BOOK IS FOR
This book is written for SOC analysts, incident responders, security engineers, and security architects seeking proven, ready-to-deploy playbooks for ransomware, business email compromise, network intrusions, cloud breaches, and AI-driven attacks. It is equally valuable for CISOs, security leaders, and GRC professionals responsible for building mature, resilient incident response programs aligned with industry frameworks such as NIST and MITRE ATT&CK. Whether you are conducting your first investigation or leading an enterprise SOC, this book provides the methodologies, real-world case studies, and AI-era techniques to respond with speed, precision, and confidence.

1. Introduction to Cybersecurity Incident Response
2. Understanding Cybersecurity Threats
3. Incident Management Lifecycle
4. Forensic Readiness
5. Malware Incident
6. Email Security Incident Response
7. Network Security Incident Response
8. Web Application Security Incident Response
9. Cloud Security Incident Response
10. Insider Threat Incident Response

Sharjeel Qayyum Khan is a senior enterprise security architect with over a decade of
experience spanning enterprise security architecture, security operations, and incident
response. He currently leads security architecture for hybrid and multi-cloud environments
at EPAM Systems, where he focuses on Zero Trust design, secure SDLC and DevSecOps,
threat modeling aligned with OWASP and MITRE ATT&CK, and centralized vulnerability
Management.

Throughout his career, he has built and led security operations and incident response
functions, designed cloud security architectures on Azure, AWS, and Google Cloud, and
established governance frameworks aligned with NIST, ISO 27001, and SOC 2. In earlier roles,
including head of digital security operations at EDOTCO Group, he drove regional cloud
security strategy and SIEM-based threat detection and response across large infrastructure
environments.

Sharjeel holds a range of industry certifications, including the Certified Information Security
Manager (CISM), Microsoft Certified: Cybersecurity Architect Expert, Associate Certified
Chief Information Security Officer (CCISO), EC-Council Certified Incident Handler
(ECIH), Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator (CHFI), and Certified Threat Intelligence
Analyst (CTIA). He has also earned the ISACA Advanced in AI Security Management
(AAISM) and Anthropic Claude Certified Architect credentials, reflecting his focus on securing
AI-driven systems. He holds a bachelor's degree in electronics from COMSATS Institute of
Information Technology