Incident response software is the businesses’ most valuable weapon to minimize the harmful impact of a cyberattack on operations. If you’re looking for one, this guide can help you make an informed decision.
Over a decade as an entrepreneur, I’ve learned the impact of cyber attacks the hard way.
Thankfully, there are effective methods to prevent it, and using reliable incident response software is one of them. There are tons of software to choose from, but I’ll only highlight the 7+ leading options, including their pricing rates, robust features, and more.
- What Is The Best Incident Response Software?
- 1. Cyber Triage – Top Pick
- 2. SIRP – Best Value For Money
- 3. InsightIDR – Most Features
- 4. Blumira Automated Detection & Response
- 5. Derdack Enterprise Alert® For Companies Of All Industries
- 6. D3 Security – Full Lifecycle Remediation
- 7. TheHive Project – Open-Source & Scalable
- 8. PhishER – Best For Email Threats Removal
- Conclusion
What Is The Best Incident Response Software?
If you’re in a hurry, take a look at the Top 3 best incident response software available in the market: Cyber Triage, SIRP, and InsightIDR.
4.9 | 4.6 | 4.2 |
Best overall. Efficient threat reporting tools and sophisticated intrusion data collection features. Starts at $1,999/annually. | Best value for money. All-in-one security solutions with highly integrated security tools. Free version available. | Feature-rich. Powerful security features for incident response and event management. Starts at $5.61/month per asset. |
Try Cyber Triage | Try SIRP | Try InsightIDR |
Let’s start this comparison post and learn which incident response software can resolve security issues quickly and efficiently.
1. Cyber Triage – Top Pick
Automated Incident Response Software Cover 40+ Malware Scanning Engines [$1,999 a year/user]
Did you know that there’s a cyber attack happening every 39 seconds?
This is why cybersecurity has become a global priority, particularly for businesses and organizations. If you’re looking for incident response software that can provide immediate and comprehensive investigations and intrusion detection, Cyber Triage is your best choice.
It landed on my top pick because its complete solutions can support the needs of the entire operation.
It can even automate the entire endpoint investigation cycle to save your team’s time and effort.
So, how does Cyber Triage work?
Basis Technology built this software with four simple processes:
- Collect
- Prioritize
- Recommend
- Collaborate
As the name implies, collect is the process of gathering all suspicious artifacts within a specific network. You have the option to manually start a network-based collection or choose an automated collection.
If you prefer the latter option, you can do it by integrating your preferred SOAR and SIEM platforms.
Once everything is set, you can start the collection process. Here’s the data it covers:
- Running processes
- Open ports
- Active network connections
- DNS cache
- Startup items
- Scheduled tasks
- User activities and logins
- File metadata from all files
Cyber threats come with different looks and impacts. Basis Technology equipped the Cyber Triage with an efficient scoring system to help you quickly identify and prioritize each threat.
Once the system analyzes an artifact, it will assign a score – whether it’s a good item or contains the most dangerous threat.
In your dashboard, you can also find bad items and suspicious items. The bad items are your primary priority since those artifacts contain threats related to past intrusions.
On the other hand, suspicious items are your second priority.
Your dashboard also includes a timeline board where you can get a bird’s eye view of all the artifacts under investigation.
Now that you gathered and organized all the suspicious artifacts, you can begin the review process for security breaches. During this process, Cyber Triage’s recommendation engine will find more suspicious evidence for you.
This is an effective way to identify the root cause of each threat quickly.
You can generate an organized report at the end of the investigation and share it with your team members.
Burkhard Berger
Most incident response software are made for businesses of all types. However, Basis Technologies also designed their Cyber Triage with tools and technologies that can support the unique needs of law enforcement.
Pros And Cons Of Cyber Triage
Pros | Cons |
Collection tools can run from Cyber Triage server, EDR, and USB drive | Not the easiest platform to set up (particularly if you’re supporting hundreds of applications) |
Support SIEM and SOAR systems’ integrations | Limited supported apps are available for integration. |
Simple and intuitive interface allows non-cyber specialists to review results easily | |
Uses Yara rules for analyzing files |
Cyber Triage Pricing Plan
Basis Technology offers two versions for Cyber Triage:
- Standard ($1,999/year/user): This is the lite version, and it includes all the tools and features for automated artifact collection and analysis.
- Team (Custom Pricing): The recommended plan to get collaboration and integration features. You may contact the sales team to get a personalized pricing quote.
If you want to test out the incident response software, you can sign up for its 7-day free trial version.
2. SIRP – Best Value For Money
Security Orchestration, Automation and Response (SOAR) Platform [Free | Quotation-Based Pricing]
Aside from unfailing support for corporate businesses, you can also count on SIRP for the oil refinery industry, financial entities, and government organizations.
Unlike Cyber Triage, SIRP is a no-code Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) platform. These three capabilities are the main focus of this software.
But before you can start, you need to integrate all your security tools.
This is an effective way to centralize all workloads and accomplish tasks with a few clicks of a button. Currently, SIRP supports 100+ security tools for integration.
The main goal of orchestrating response workflows and playbooks is to create easy security processes that everyone can understand and follow. Of course, all processes also comply with cybersecurity best practices.
You can easily do so because SIRP features an intuitive drag-and-drop playbook building module.
Through this feature, you can create vital steps of the process. You can also automate workflows and playbooks by creating actions.
There are 450+ actions available on the platform, and the best part of it, you can use as many as you need from incident reporting to security monitoring.
When you start the collection process, all collected data are organized into three different categories for easy prioritization:
- Incidents
- Vulnerabilities
- Threat intelligence
Each is also assigned with an accurate risk scoring to determine its risk level.
Making an informed decision is not always a one-person job. SIRP provides tools to promote communication within your organization.
Intuitive dashboards and reports are excellent examples of it.
Your team is provided with total visibility of all the security functions and real-time insights of all incidents under investigation. They will also receive important alerts to keep them in the loop of the newest updates.
Pros And Cons Of SIRP
Pros | Cons |
Provide Cloud, Hybrid, and On-Premises deployment options | Only support the English language. |
Predefined and custom dashboards are available in all plans, including the free plan. | |
The superb quality of customer support is provided via phone, email, and Slack (also offer access to help center and online documentation). | |
Supports 100+ popular security technologies for out-of-the-box integration |
SIRP Pricing Plan
SIRP is offered in five different plans, and it started with a free plan.
The Community plan is 100% free to use and suitable for individual use. You can get security orchestration, automation, and limited access to its threat intelligence features.
If you want more, here are your options:
- Lite: Provide complete access to its threat intelligence and additional access to its vulnerability management features.
- Standard: Additional access is provided for risk management
- Enterprise: Provide deployment options – cloud, on-prem, or hybrid deployment
- MSSP: The recommended plan to protect your organization without limits.
All plans are designed for custom pricing. You may contact the sales team to get a personalized pricing quote.
If you want to test drive the plan you desire, you can sign up for its limited trial version or book a demo.
3. InsightIDR – Most Features
Cloud-Based Incident Response Tool Solution & Event Management (SIEM) Platform [$5.61 a month/asset]
Here’s another security solution you can use, the Security Information and Event Management (SIEM).
Compared to SOAR or MDR, SIEM is more advantageous when ingesting massive amounts of information. It also focuses on collecting events and triggering alerts.
Unfortunately, it’s not always the best choice because it often requires a sizable setup which can cost a lot of money.
Rapid7 certainly changed that when they engineered a cloud-based SIEM platform called InsightIDR. Through this software, your security team can perform the following task:
- Incident detection and response
- Authentication monitoring
- Endpoint visibility
As standard, this software includes pre-built workflow templates to automate repetitive tasks and streamline case management.
They are also built with user and attacker behavior analytics.
The user behavior analytics monitors and learns all users’ behavior and credentials. Through this process, you can quickly identify attackers that are impersonating one of your users.
On the other hand, attacker behavior analytics allows you to see signs of an attack. It includes an alerting system for quick notification, along with information on how you can respond to it.
For optimal efficacy, it is equipped with deception technology.
Here, you can set intruder traps to identify malicious behavior at the early stage successfully. There are four types of intruder traps available, and these are:
- Set Honeypots (decoy machines/servers)
- Detect password guessing attempts with honey users
- Injects fake honey credentials on your endpoints
- Deploy file-level visibility
Other vital features that you can take advantage of InsightIDR are listed as follows:
- Endpoint detection and visibility
- Network traffic analysis
- Centralized log management
- Visual investigation timeline
- File Integrity Monitoring (FIM)
Pros And Cons Of InsightIDR
Pros | Cons |
Easy to use and setup | Support limited number of apps for integrations |
Provide easy-to-deploy intruder traps to identify malicious behavior quickly | No on-premises deployment option is available. |
Customer support provides satisfactory quality of assistance for general inquiries and account-specific issues. | The automation feature isn’t as impressive as with its competitors. |
InsightIDR Pricing Plan
Rapid7 offers InsightIDR in one simple plan that costs $5.61/month/asset. You can test it out before purchase by signing up for its 30-day free trial.
If you want to get a volume-based discount, you may contact their sales team to get a personalized pricing quote.
4. Blumira Automated Detection & Response
Threat Detection & Incident Response Plan Solution With Dynamic Blocklist [Quotation-Based Pricing]
Blumira Automated Detection and Response software is the best middle-ground management solution to get if you prefer an advanced and simplified platform that focuses on the security needs of small to mid-sized businesses.
Its detection and response functions are comparable to what is provided to large enterprises. So, ease your mind that you’ll get a top-notch security solution at an affordable price.
It’s combined with a cloud-based SIEM technology to strengthen its threat detection and response capability further and lessen false positives.
By default, it comes with backend automation and alerts. You can also expand your detection functions through third-party integration.
Other methods you can use to widen your cybersecurity threat detection capabilities are listed as follows:
- Virtual Honeypot sensors
- Correlated threat intelligence
- Threat hunting
- Evidence stacking
Upon collecting all suspicious items, Blumira’s system will categorize each according to their priority level. There are three categories available, and here they are:
- Priority 1: Respond immediately to critical threats
- Priority 2: Respond within the next day to high-priority threats
- Priority 3: Respond within the next few business days to lower potentially malicious alerts
You would receive notifications, too, if it detected any disruptions.
For a timely response, you can enable its dynamic blocklists. It will automatically block any malicious domains or source IPs once detected. It’s recommended to integrate with all major firewall providers to achieve the best results.
Blumira as a response platform also provides you with a report builder to help you generate reports like information security and compliance.
Pros And Cons Of Blumira Automated Detection & Response
Pros | Cons |
Allows adding new users and assigning roles for each | Limited guides available on their documentation page |
Excellent customer support is provided through phone and email | The search function could be made more user-friendly. |
Solutions are focused on helping smaller organizations and businesses. | |
Easy to use, set up, and implement |
Blumira Automated Detection & Response Pricing Plan
All Blumira Automated Detection and Response products are available with custom pricing. Contact their sales representative to get a personalized pricing quote tailored only for your business.
5. Derdack Enterprise Alert® For Companies Of All Industries
Enterprise Alerting Software With Incident Response System [$432 a year/user]
Derdack Enterprise Alert® is an alerting software combined with an excellent incident response system.
The longer you respond to a threat, the heavier the impact it can cause on your organization. This is why Derdack created an automated alerting system in the following formats:
- Voice
- Text
- Push notifications
- Instant messaging
They also create native apps for four different platforms to support the text alerts – Android, iPhone, Windows Phone, and Blackberry.
The best part of the mobile apps is you can do your tasks from them. You can manage alerts, handle critical incidents, and more.
Through this system, you will have peace of mind that you will never miss any critical incidents.
When it comes to security, Derdack Enterprise Alert® won’t disappoint you. It includes the following solutions:
- ADFS, WAP, and Active Directory
- Edge authentication
- Latest security architecture
- MFA supported
- Token-based authentication (OAuth2)
Pros And Cons Of Derdack Enterprise Alert®
Pros | Cons |
Provide on-premises (Windows 2012 server or higher) and hybrid cloud (PaaS model) deployment options | Installing the platform with multiple systems and communication integrations can take a couple of days. |
Alert notifications are delivered by voice, text, push, email and IM. | |
Offer flexible pricing options (one-time payment license, annual subscriptions, or direct purchase) | |
Responsive and friendly customer support via live chat, phone, and email |
Derdack Enterprise Alert® Pricing Plan
Derdack Enterprise Alert® is offered in two licensing models:
- Perpetual ($749/user): Purchase the license with a one-time fee, and you’ll be able to deploy the software on-prem or on your own virtual machines.
- Subscription ($432/user/year): This is an annual subscription plan that allows deployment on-prem or your own cloud virtual machines. It can also support physical servers.
If you have no idea what to get, you can contact the sales team and request a pricing quote.
6. D3 Security – Full Lifecycle Remediation
SOAR Platform With Codeless, Drag-and-Drop Playbook Interface [Quotation-Based Pricing]
Here’s another powerful SOAR platform on my list, D3 Security.
Its difference from its competitors is that it’s operational on MITRE ATT&CK® (Adversarial Tactics, Techniques, and Common Knowledge) framework. This is a huge advantage because it can clearly point out two crucial elements:
- Various phases of a cyberattack’s lifecycle
- Platforms they are known to target
For every cybersecurity incident, data breach, or threat response. You can create a customized playbook that can enhance your current existing security operations.
It wouldn’t take you long to create one because it’s built with a drag-and-drop, codeless playbook editor. Through this playbook editor, you can utilize the best incident response processes to effectively manage security events.
Since D3 Security is also built with a NIST 800-61 framework, you can create processes for the following:
- Preparation
- Detection and analysis
- Containment, eradication, and recovery
- Post-event activity
The playbook editor also supports the creation of actions.
You also have the option to use the command line to create and run actions. This is an ideal option for anyone with coding expertise.
Everything you need is neatly placed in the incident workspace. A few of the security features included are:
- Comprehensive audit features
- Evidence tracking
- Automation for tier-1 and tier-2 work
Burkhard Berger
The features I’ve mentioned are only part of the D3 Security incident response solution. Its SOAR Platform can do so much more like orchestration, threat hunting, and SOC optimization.
Pros And Cons Of D3 Security
Pros | Cons |
No required coding for integrations and changing data sources without coding required | With all the features included, it requires a steep learning curve. |
Cover any threats such as cyber, financial, IP, physical, or reputational | |
Provide end-to-end incident response automation |
D3 Security Pricing Plan
Get started with D3 Security by requesting a demo.
If you realize that it’s the right security solution for your organization, you can contact the sales team and request a pricing quote.
7. TheHive Project – Open-Source & Scalable
4-In-1 Incident Management Software [Free | $2,490 a month]
If you want a free and scalable incident response software that 100% works, TheHive Project is your best option for a reliable service provider.
It’s popularly known for its 4-in-1 security solution that makes Cyber Security specialists’ jobs simpler. As standard, it works in three simple processes:
- Collaborate
- Elaborate
- Act
It’s equipped with a built-in live stream feature, so all specialists involved in a specific incident investigation can work simultaneously.
This feature includes but is not limited to sharing all the information and assigning tasks (new or updating) in real-time.
Next is to elaborate on each incident.
This is delivered by providing a dynamic dashboard with a template engine. Here, you can add custom fields and metrics to ensure all incident cases are clearly specified (investigation type, status, etc.).
You can also attach all evidence and other important files that can help your team make data-based decisions.
Once the investigation is done, your incident response team will perform the necessary actions. Since it’s integrated with MISP (Malware Information Sharing Platform), you’ll be able to use the indicators of compromise you’ve gathered to prevent attacks.
TheHive Project also offers Cortex to analyze IP and email addresses, URLs, domain names, or hashes.
Its primary goal is to make the containment phase easier.
Pros And Cons Of TheHive Project
Pros | Cons |
Provide three deployment options – on-premises, IaaS, and TheHive Cloud platform | No real-time customer support for phone or live chat is provided |
Support for MISP taxonomies, custom tags, and tag color | Installation can be complex for new users and beginners. |
Added a new database indexation feature (version 4.0) |
TheHive Project Pricing Plan
TheHive Project incident response products are 100% free to use and download.
Recently, it launched its new cloud-based platform. For this product, you have three subscription plans to choose from:
- Starter ($2,490/mo.): Provide a service quota for 5 users and 1 organization, data storage limit of 35 GB, and more.
- Standard ($5,990/mo.): Provide a service quota for 20 users and 3 organizations, a data storage limit of 100 GB, and more.
- Business ($10,990/mo.): Provide a service quota for 50 users and 10 organizations, data storage limit of 500 GB, and more.
The Standard and Business plans include a 7-day trial. Sign up for any of the trial versions and get a firsthand experience with the platform for free.
8. PhishER – Best For Email Threats Removal
SOAR Platform With Automatic Prioritization Of Emails [$10 a year/seat]
All the incident response software I’ve discussed covers the identification and removal of various threats and cyberattacks. As a bonus, I also added software that focuses more on email threats.
Did you know that 94% of cyber attacks begin with a phishing email?
And its percentage can grow even more as the technology evolves. Protect your operation using PhishER.
PhishER is also a Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) platform.
One of its many advantages is it comes with an automatic prioritization for emails. Through this feature, your incident response team can identify and respond quickly to all email threats.
Your users can also report suspicious emails with a single click of the Phish Alert button.
Once they click the button, the suspected email will immediately be forwarded to your incident response team. These buttons and dialog boxes are highly customizable to make them stand out and blend into your email design.
Overall, the PhishER web-based platform is easy to use and administer.
You can assign security roles for each team member to balance the distribution of workloads. You can even streamline their workflows by creating custom workflows for each task.
PhishER is built to work simply to ensure your incident response team won’t miss any email message.
Upon receiving reported emails, its system will process each by categorizing it based on rules, tags, and actions you’ve set. There are three categories available, and those are:
- Clean
- Spam
- Threat
PhishML™ is the machine learning module that will analyze each email message and generate info to make the process more accurate.
You can use PhishRIP™, a PhishER email quarantine feature, to stop active attacks quickly. It can do three things:
- Remove all identified threats and all similar messages from all mail folders.
- Inoculate unreported email messages that contain identical threats.
- Protect merely for continuous analyzing of threat details for it to be prevented in the future.
Other features you can take advantage of are listed as follows:
- PhishFlip™
- Emergency rooms
- SIEM Integrations
Pros And Cons Of PhishER
Pros | Cons |
Its web-based platform is easy to use and administer. | Email quarantine feature only supports Microsoft 365 and G Suite integration |
Customer support is friendly and responsive (phone and email) | It can be a little tricky to configure and implement rules. |
Uses API for integrating into your security technologies | |
Include a generous amount of free tools (domain spoof test, browser password inspector, etc.) |
PhishER Pricing Plan
The best thing about KnowBe4 incident response software is, it provides tons of free IT security tools. However, if you want its feature-rich platform, you can purchase its SaaS subscription plans.
All subscription plans are designed per seat and for an annual billing period:
- 101-500: $10
- 501-1000: $7
- 1001-2000: $6
- 2001-3000: $5
- 3001-5000: $4.50
If you have more than 5,000 users to add, you may contact their sales team and request a personalized pricing quote.
Conclusion
In choosing the best incident response software, always consider ease of use, comprehensiveness, and accuracy. These are all the elements that can help your security team do their job best.
If I have to pick the best one amongst the top 7+ software, I’ll go with SIRP.
Its risk-based SOAR platform makes the detection and response process simpler while maintaining accuracy. Integrate it with different security tools or networks and ease your mind that they will gather all suspicious items.
They also prioritize each item and process them accordingly:
- Incident management
- Vulnerability management
- Threat intelligence
It may be popularly used for financial institutions and government entities, but they provide solutions for various business types.
If this piques your interest, you can visit their website and sign up for a free account.