IncidentResponsev2

4.50 Perform Handoff to Recovery Teams

Task Perform Formal Handoff of Remediation and Restoration Activities to Recovery Teams

Conditions

With eradication activities completed and transition approved, the operator will perform a structured handoff to recovery teams. This includes sharing key information about the incident, eradication steps, any residual risks, and recovery guidance to ensure smooth and secure restoration of normal operations.

Operator Note: Poor handoff can lead to gaps in recovery and re-introduction of risks. Treat handoff as a critical milestone with required artifacts and approval steps.

Standards

Team member ensures all eradication actions and validation are documented and complete.
Team member prepares and delivers a formal handoff package to recovery teams.
Team member ensures recovery teams fully understand the eradication context and any caveats.
Team member obtains confirmation from recovery team lead that handoff is accepted.
Team member records handoff completion in incident tracking system.

End State

All required eradication information, residual risk guidance, and recovery caveats have been handed off and accepted by recovery teams. Recovery activities begin with full situational awareness.

Notes

Handoff should be planned and scheduled as a formal event or meeting when possible.
Recovery teams should include IT Operations, System Administrators, Application Owners, and IT Security.
Retain handoff package and meeting records for after-action review and compliance.

Manual Steps

Step 1: Prepare Handoff Package

Create handoff documentation that includes:

Incident Summary
- Timeline of incident
- Impacted systems
- Root cause summary (if available)
Eradication Summary
- Actions taken to eradicate malicious artifacts
- Validation steps and results
- Outstanding issues or risks
Recovery Guidance
- Systems ready for recovery
- Order of recovery (e.g., infrastructure → apps → users)
- Special instructions (e.g., rebuild instead of restore)
Residual Risks and Monitoring Requirements
- What to watch for (possible indicators of reinfection)
- Monitoring plan (EDR, firewall, DNS, etc.)
- Rollback plan if issues occur during recovery

Operator Note: Templates or handoff forms can be used to standardize this process.

Step 2: Schedule and Conduct Handoff Briefing

Schedule recovery handoff meeting or coordination session.
Participants should include:
- IR Lead
- Recovery Team Lead(s)
- IT Operations
- System/Business Owners
- Cybersecurity monitoring team
Walk through handoff package:
- Confirm eradication completion
- Review recovery process and caveats
- Confirm monitoring requirements and escalation paths

Operator Note: Virtual meetings with screen sharing and recording are recommended for audit trail.

Step 3: Deliver Artifacts and Transition Documentation

Provide recovery teams with:

Handoff document or briefing deck
Validation reports (scans, task/service reviews, etc.)
Artifact retention locations (malware samples, logs, etc.)
Recovery instructions (systems approved to bring online, order of operations)

Operator Note: Use enterprise collaboration platforms (SharePoint, Teams, secured shared drives) to store and share handoff packages securely.

Step 4: Obtain Acknowledgement and Approval to Proceed

Ensure Recovery Team Lead formally accepts handoff:
- Verbal (recorded during meeting)
- Written (email confirmation or ticket approval)
Record acceptance and transition status in incident tracking system.

Operator Note: This approval serves as a control gate to officially exit eradication phase.

Step 5: Monitor Initial Recovery Actions (as applicable)

Remain available as IR team POC during early recovery.
Review first systems brought online for any issues.
Escalate to IR Lead if re-infection or security issues arise.

Operator Note: Recovery and IR remain linked until full business restoration and no new incidents are detected.

Running Script (Document and Capture Validation Status)

Get-Date | Out-File RecoveryHandoffLog.txt
Write-Output "Eradication validation completed. Transition to recovery initiated." | Out-File -Append RecoveryHandoffLog.txt

Operator Note: Always record dates/times of phase changes in incident records.

Dependencies

Eradication and validation phase must be formally completed
All system owners and recovery teams must be identified and ready
Handoff package prepared and available
IR Lead and Recovery Lead available for coordination

Other Available Tools

Tool	Platform	Installation	Usage
Ticketing/ITSM (ServiceNow, Jira)	Cross-platform	Enterprise	Record handoff, approvals, and completion
SharePoint / Teams / Confluence	Cross-platform	Enterprise	Share handoff package and recovery instructions
Email + Calendar	Cross-platform	Built-in	Schedule and confirm handoff
Enterprise EDR/XDR platforms	Cross-platform	Enterprise	Prepare for recovery monitoring

Operator Note: Where available, use existing ITSM and documentation platforms to integrate handoff processes.

Operator Recommendations and Additional Tools

Operator Checklist

Prepare handoff package with incident, eradication, validation, and recovery info.
Schedule handoff meeting and invite all recovery stakeholders.
Walk through handoff package and confirm understanding.
Deliver package and obtain formal handoff acceptance.
Update IR records and transition incident phase.
Support initial recovery actions as needed.

Best Practices

Use structured handoff templates or checklists to ensure nothing is missed.
Confirm understanding during handoff meeting → ask for questions/concerns.
Retain all artifacts and meeting records in incident archive.
Coordinate closely with monitoring teams for early detection of any issues post-recovery.

References

NIST SP 800-61 - Incident Response Coordination
SANS Incident Response Process - Recovery and Lessons Learned

Revision History

Date	Version	Description	Author
2025-05-02	1.0	Fully generated operator guide for performing eradication-to-recovery handoff	Leo