Incident response lessons learned the hard way

In this Help Net Security video, Ryan Seymour, VP, Consulting and Education at ConnectSecure, shares lessons from more than two decades in cybersecurity incident response. He explains why many response failures are set in motion long before an attack begins. The focus is on how teams prepare to make decisions under pressure.

Seymour walks through real incidents where plans looked complete on paper, yet teams hesitated when signals appeared. He shows how delays often come from uncertainty about authority, escalation, and ownership rather than from missing tools. The video also explores how incident response exposes organizational weaknesses as more groups become involved and decision making slows.

Another key theme is the risk of waiting for certainty while impact continues to grow. Seymour argues that practiced judgment matters more than perfect information.