Page 333 - Cyber Defense eMagazine September 2025
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When Theory Meets Reality: The Fatal Flaws in Traditional
Incident Response
By Andy Lunsford, CEO and Co-Founder, BreachRx
Incident response is broken.
For years, organizations have been investing: tools, training, tabletop exercises, and everything in
between. You name it, security teams have tried it. But at the end of the day, most organizations are not
prepared to respond effectively when a cyber incident hits. Plans may look solid on paper. CISOs will
tout comprehensive playbooks and documented policies ready to be executed by cross-functional teams.
However, plans often fall apart when theory meets reality.
Good intentions often drive traditional approaches to incident response (IR). But they are plagued by
execution gaps. The idea of a playbook is excellent, but if it’s treated as a loose guideline and not an
actionable, auditable checklist, it won’t be effective. Teams too often rely on tribal knowledge or gut
instinct instead of implementing repeatable processes. And when the rubber meets the road, teams
Cyber Defense eMagazine – September 2025 Edition 333
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