Emergency Incident Response: Contain the Breach, Recover Operations, Preserve Evidence
PTG's OODA-driven incident response program combines real-time SOC monitoring, AI-enhanced detection with Eve, and battle-tested containment protocols to minimize breach impact and accelerate recovery. When every second counts, PTG's cybersecurity team is already watching. Available 24/7/365 for Triangle-area businesses and organizations nationwide.
24/7 Response • Containment • Forensics • Recovery • Post-Incident Review • OODA Framework
Every Minute of Delay Multiplies the Damage
Modern environments are volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA). Speed and decision quality determine whether a security incident becomes a manageable event or a catastrophic breach.
The Cost of Slow Response Escalates Exponentially
According to IBM's Cost of a Data Breach Report, organizations that contain a breach within 200 days save an average of $1.02 million compared to those that take longer. For businesses across Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, and the Research Triangle Park, the financial impact of delayed incident response extends far beyond the initial breach. Extended dwell time allows attackers to escalate privileges, exfiltrate additional data, establish persistence mechanisms, and move laterally through your network to compromise connected systems. Every hour of uncontained breach activity increases the regulatory notification burden, expands the scope of affected individuals who must be notified, and compounds the reputational damage that erodes customer trust. Without a pre-established incident response program, organizations waste critical hours assembling ad-hoc teams, identifying the right tools, and debating response procedures while the attacker continues operating inside their environment.
Internal IT Teams Lack the Specialized Skills for Crisis Response
Your IT team maintains systems, manages users, and keeps operations running. But incident response demands an entirely different skill set: volatile memory acquisition, network traffic analysis, malware reverse engineering, forensic evidence preservation, and real-time threat hunting across endpoints, cloud workloads, and identity systems. Attempting incident response without these specialized capabilities often causes more harm than good. Well-meaning administrators who reboot compromised systems destroy volatile memory evidence. Teams that re-image machines before forensic collection eliminate the artifacts needed to understand attack scope. Organizations in Cary, Apex, and throughout the Triangle that rely solely on internal resources during a security incident consistently experience longer containment times, incomplete root cause analysis, and recurring compromises because the original attack vector was never fully identified or remediated.
Regulatory Requirements Demand Documented Response Capabilities
HIPAA, PCI DSS, SOC 2, CMMC, NIST 800-171, and numerous state privacy laws don't just suggest incident response plans — they mandate them. North Carolina's Identity Theft Protection Act requires notification within specific timeframes, and failure to comply brings significant penalties. Insurance carriers increasingly require documented incident response capabilities as a precondition for coverage, and claims may be denied if the organization cannot demonstrate it followed a defined response process. Federal contractors face additional obligations under DFARS 252.204-7012, which requires reporting cyber incidents to the DoD within 72 hours and preserving forensic evidence for at least 90 days. Without a formal incident response partner who understands these overlapping regulatory requirements, organizations risk compliance violations that compound the financial impact of the breach itself.
Monitor → Detect → Respond: PTG's Three-Phase IR Program
Our incident response program flows continuously from proactive monitoring through detection to decisive response, ensuring threats are identified and neutralized at every stage.
Monitor Phase
Throughout the Monitor phase, PTG cybersecurity professionals closely observe and scrutinize your network and systems for any signs of anomalous or suspicious activity while maintaining communication to improve your overall security posture.
- SOC monitors potential attack surfaces and vulnerable assets around the clock
- Maintain communication channels and escalation procedures with your team
- Continuously improve client security posture through proactive recommendations
Detect Phase
During the Detect phase, cybersecurity experts concentrate on efficiently identifying potential security incidents. This is where the majority of interaction with the PTG XDR platform takes place, investigating alerts, triaging vulnerabilities, and maintaining documentation.
- Hunt for potential malicious activity across endpoints, network, and cloud
- Maintain detailed documentation of all events and observations
- Scope and assess the potential impact of detected malicious activity
- Inform clients immediately about potential threats and recommended actions
- Mitigate minor incidents before they escalate to full-scale breaches
Respond Phase
During the Respond phase, PTG turns efforts to swiftly and effectively address security incidents by collecting evidence, performing root cause analysis, isolating affected systems, and implementing remediation measures.
- Isolate affected systems and prevent further damage or lateral movement
- Collect and preserve forensic evidence for investigation and legal action
- Identify and eliminate the root cause of the incident completely
- Implement both temporary containment and long-term remediation measures
OODA Loop: Speed and Enhanced Decision-Making at Every Stage
PTG employs the Observation, Orientation, Decision, Action (OODA) model at every stage of incident response, enabling SOC analysts to make quicker, more streamlined decisions with shorter reaction times to security incidents.
Observe
SOC analysts quickly identify suspicious or anomalous activity within your environment based on baselined behavioral data and real-time telemetry from endpoints, network traffic, and cloud workloads. Eve, our AI-powered SOC agent, processes millions of events to surface the signals that matter most, allowing human analysts to focus on confirmed anomalies rather than sifting through noise. Observation happens continuously, not just during active incidents, building the situational awareness necessary for rapid response.
Orient
Analysts reflect on what was found during observation and contextualize it against known threat intelligence, historical baselines, and the specific client environment. The Orientation phase requires significant situational awareness and understanding — connecting technical indicators to business impact, assessing attacker capability and intent, and determining whether the observation represents a true threat, benign anomaly, or false positive. This phase is where expertise and judgment matter most, preventing both over-reaction to benign events and under-reaction to genuine threats.
Decide
Decisions are made in coordination with your team about how to address the detected event. Our analysts evaluate possible outcomes, weigh containment options against operational impact, and apply their decision-making process in partnership with client stakeholders. This collaborative approach ensures that response actions account for business-critical systems, acceptable downtime windows, and regulatory requirements specific to your organization. Pre-approved playbooks for common scenarios accelerate this phase for the most time-sensitive incidents.
Act
Action is taken to classify and remediate the incident. Before implementing any environment changes, thorough testing is performed to ensure total operability of your systems. Actions include isolating compromised endpoints, blocking malicious network connections, revoking stolen credentials, deploying patches or configuration changes, and restoring affected services from verified clean backups. Every action is documented with timestamps, evidence links, and analyst notes to maintain the forensic chain of custody and support post-incident reporting.
PTG's Incident Response Methodology
Watch how PTG combines the OODA model with continuous Monitor → Detect → Respond operations to deliver faster, more decisive incident response.
What Happens When You Call PTG's Emergency Hotline
From first contact to full recovery, our structured response process ensures nothing is missed and every action is documented.
Triage & Mobilize
Within 15 minutes of your emergency call, a senior incident commander assesses severity, assembles the response team, and initiates containment planning. For existing managed clients, Eve has already correlated alerts to provide immediate context.
Contain & Preserve
Isolate compromised systems to stop lateral movement while preserving volatile evidence. Network segmentation, credential rotation, and endpoint isolation prevent further damage without destroying forensic artifacts needed for investigation.
Investigate & Remediate
Full forensic investigation identifies root cause, attack timeline, scope of compromise, and data exposure. Remediation eliminates the attacker's access, patches exploited vulnerabilities, and hardens the environment against recurrence.
Recover & Strengthen
Restore operations from verified clean states, validate system integrity, deliver a comprehensive incident report, and implement lessons-learned improvements to prevent recurrence. Ongoing monitoring intensifies for 30 days post-incident.
Comprehensive Incident Response Capabilities
From ransomware containment to regulatory breach notification, PTG provides end-to-end incident response services.
Ransomware Response & Recovery
Immediate containment of ransomware outbreaks including isolation of encrypted systems, identification of the ransomware variant, assessment of backup integrity, and coordination of recovery efforts. PTG evaluates decryption options, assists with negotiation when necessary, and restores operations from immutable backups. Our ransomware playbook has been refined across dozens of real-world engagements, enabling faster containment and more complete recovery than ad-hoc response efforts can achieve.
Business Email Compromise Investigation
BEC attacks are among the costliest cyber threats, with the FBI reporting $2.7 billion in losses annually. PTG investigates compromised email accounts, traces unauthorized access and forwarding rules, identifies exfiltrated data, and determines whether financial fraud was attempted or completed. We coordinate with financial institutions to freeze fraudulent transfers, assist with law enforcement reporting, and implement advanced email security controls to prevent recurrence including conditional access policies and impossible travel detection.
Network Intrusion Investigation
When an unauthorized actor gains access to your network, PTG deploys network forensic tools to reconstruct the attack timeline, identify all compromised systems, map lateral movement paths, and determine data exfiltration. We analyze firewall logs, DNS queries, proxy records, endpoint telemetry, and authentication logs to build a complete picture of the intrusion. Our investigation identifies not just what happened, but how it happened and what must change to prevent it from happening again. Full reports are delivered in both executive summary and technical detail formats.
Regulatory Breach Notification Support
Data breach notification requirements vary by jurisdiction, industry, and data type. PTG helps organizations across Raleigh, Durham, and all of North Carolina handle the web of notification obligations. We assist with determining scope of affected individuals, drafting notification letters that comply with state and federal requirements, coordinating with legal counsel on timing and content, establishing call centers for affected individuals, and preparing regulatory filings for HIPAA, PCI DSS, SEC, and state attorney general offices. Timely, accurate notification reduces regulatory penalties and preserves organizational credibility.
Insider Threat Response
Not all security incidents come from external attackers. Employee sabotage, data theft by departing staff, accidental exposure of sensitive information, and unauthorized access to confidential systems all require careful investigation that balances security with legal and HR considerations. PTG conducts insider threat investigations with discretion, preserving evidence in a forensically sound manner that supports employment actions and potential litigation while maintaining confidentiality. We coordinate with legal counsel and human resources to ensure investigations follow proper procedures and respect employee rights throughout the process.
Cloud & SaaS Incident Response
Cloud environments present unique incident response challenges: shared responsibility models, distributed logging, ephemeral resources, and complex identity and access management systems. PTG's cloud IR capabilities cover Microsoft 365, Azure, AWS, Google Workspace, and major SaaS platforms. We investigate unauthorized access to cloud accounts, analyze audit logs across federated identity systems, trace data movement through cloud storage and sharing services, and coordinate with cloud service providers to contain threats within their shared responsibility framework.
Incident Response Results That Speak for Themselves
Ready to see what PTG can do for your business? Schedule a free consultation and join the businesses across the Triangle that trust us with their technology.
919-348-4912Incident Response Across Regulated Industries
Every industry faces unique compliance requirements and threat profiles. PTG tailors incident response procedures to your specific regulatory landscape.
Healthcare & Medical Practices
HIPAA breach notification rules require covered entities to notify HHS and affected individuals within 60 days. Breaches affecting 500+ individuals require media notification. PTG's healthcare IR team understands the intersection of clinical operations and cybersecurity, ensuring patient safety is maintained during incident containment while meeting HIPAA's strict evidence preservation and notification timeline requirements.
Financial Services & Banking
Financial institutions face regulatory scrutiny from FFIEC, SEC, FINRA, and state regulators during security incidents. PTG's financial services IR program addresses Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act requirements, PCI DSS breach response procedures, and SAR filing obligations. We coordinate with financial regulators and law enforcement to meet reporting deadlines while protecting institution reputation and customer confidence.
Government & Defense Contractors
Federal contractors handling CUI must report cyber incidents to the DoD within 72 hours under DFARS 252.204-7012 and preserve forensic evidence for at least 90 days. PTG's CMMC-AB RPO registration and experience with NIST 800-171 controls ensures that incident response procedures meet the stringent requirements of government contracting, including proper handling of classified and controlled information throughout the investigation process.
Legal & Professional Services
Law firms and professional service organizations hold privileged client information that demands the highest level of protection during a security incident. PTG understands attorney-client privilege implications, professional ethics board notification requirements, and the reputational sensitivity of breach disclosure for firms in Chapel Hill, Raleigh, and throughout North Carolina. Our investigations maintain strict confidentiality while producing defensible findings.
Manufacturing & Industrial
Manufacturing environments increasingly blend IT and OT networks, creating unique incident response challenges. Compromised industrial control systems, SCADA environments, and production networks require specialized containment strategies that prioritize physical safety alongside data protection. PTG coordinates IT incident response with OT-aware procedures to contain threats without causing production disruptions or safety hazards in Triangle-area manufacturing facilities.
Education & Research Institutions
Universities and research institutions in the Research Triangle Park area face threats to intellectual property, student records protected under FERPA, and research data subject to federal grant requirements. PTG's education-sector IR team understands the open network environments common in academic settings, the distributed governance structures that complicate response coordination, and the data preservation requirements mandated by research funding agencies.
What Sets PTG's Incident Response Apart
OODA-Driven Speed & Precision
While most IR firms follow rigid playbooks, PTG employs the military-proven OODA (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act) loop at every stage of incident response. This framework enables our SOC analysts to make quicker, more streamlined decisions with shorter reaction times. Combined with Eve's AI-powered correlation engine, we consistently outpace threats by processing observations, assessing context, making coordinated decisions, and taking decisive action faster than traditional response teams. The result: shorter dwell times, reduced blast radius, and faster recovery to normal operations.
Continuous Monitor → Detect → Respond Cycle
PTG's IR program doesn't start when you call us — it runs continuously. Our three-phase approach flows from proactive monitoring of attack surfaces and vulnerable assets, through active threat detection using our XDR platform, to decisive response actions when threats are confirmed. For managed clients, this means the Monitor and Detect phases have already identified the threat before the Respond phase begins, dramatically reducing the time between breach and containment. Organizations that bolt on IR as an afterthought cannot match this level of integrated readiness.
Local Presence, National Reach
Headquartered in Raleigh since 2002, PTG provides in-person incident response capabilities across the Triangle including Durham, Chapel Hill, RTP, Cary, and Apex. When a security incident requires physical evidence collection, on-site forensic acquisition, or face-to-face coordination with your executive team, our local team can be on-site quickly. For organizations outside the Triangle, our remote incident response capabilities leverage secure remote forensic tools, encrypted communication channels, and cloud-based evidence processing to deliver the same level of service regardless of location.
End-to-End Coverage: IR + Forensics + Compliance
Most incident response firms hand off forensics to a third party and leave compliance notification to your legal team. PTG delivers the complete response lifecycle in-house: containment through our SOC, forensic investigation through our certified examiners, regulatory notification support through our compliance team with ComplyBot AI, and post-incident hardening through our managed security services. This integrated approach eliminates handoff delays, maintains evidence chain of custody across all phases, and ensures that lessons learned from the incident are immediately incorporated into your security posture through ongoing PTG managed services.
Incident Response Questions & Answers
How quickly can PTG respond to an active security incident?
PTG provides 24/7/365 emergency incident response with an average initial response time of 15 minutes. For existing managed clients, our SOC team is already monitoring your environment and often identifies threats before you are aware of them. For new emergency engagements, our incident commander performs initial triage by phone and assembles the appropriate response team based on the nature and severity of the incident. On-site response in the Triangle area is typically within hours.
What is the OODA model and why does PTG use it for incident response?
OODA stands for Observe, Orient, Decide, Act. Originally developed by military strategist John Boyd, the OODA loop is a decision-making framework designed for high-pressure, time-sensitive situations. PTG adopted OODA because traditional incident response frameworks can be too rigid for the speed and unpredictability of real-world cyber attacks. By cycling through observation, orientation, decision, and action continuously, our SOC analysts make faster, better-informed decisions with shorter reaction times, prioritizing speed and enhanced decision-making at every stage of the incident.
What should we do immediately if we suspect a breach?
Call PTG's emergency hotline at 919-348-4912 immediately. Do not attempt to remediate the issue yourself, as this can destroy critical forensic evidence. Do not power off or restart compromised systems, as volatile memory evidence will be lost. If possible, disconnect affected systems from the network without powering them down. Document everything you observe, including timestamps, and restrict knowledge of the incident to essential personnel until the response team provides guidance on internal communications.
Do we need an incident response retainer, or can we engage PTG on-demand?
PTG offers both retainer and on-demand incident response services. Retainer clients receive guaranteed response SLAs, pre-configured monitoring integration, documented escalation procedures, pre-approved response playbooks, and discounted hourly rates. On-demand clients receive the same expertise but may experience slightly longer initial engagement times as the team familiarizes itself with the environment. For organizations with regulatory requirements for documented IR capabilities, a retainer arrangement provides the evidence of preparedness that auditors and insurers require.
How does PTG's IR integrate with the existing managed services?
For PTG managed clients, incident response is deeply integrated with our ongoing monitoring, XDR, and SOC services. Eve, our AI-powered SOC agent, continuously analyzes your environment and has already built behavioral baselines for your systems and users. When an incident occurs, the response team has immediate access to historical data, current alert context, and pre-established communication channels. This integration reduces the mean time to detect and contain incidents by eliminating the information-gathering phase that slows down standalone IR engagements.
What happens during a post-incident review?
After every incident, PTG conducts a comprehensive post-incident review that includes a detailed timeline of events, root cause analysis, assessment of response effectiveness, identification of security gaps that enabled the incident, specific recommendations for preventing recurrence, and updates to the incident response plan based on lessons learned. This review is delivered as a formal report suitable for executive leadership, board presentations, regulatory submissions, and insurance claims documentation.
Can PTG help with cyber insurance claims after an incident?
Yes. PTG's incident documentation is designed to support cyber insurance claims from the outset. Our incident reports include the forensic evidence, timeline documentation, scope assessment, and remediation records that insurance carriers require to process claims. We coordinate directly with your insurance carrier's preferred vendors when required and ensure that our investigation meets the evidentiary standards that prevent claim denials. Many of our clients have successfully recovered incident costs through their cyber insurance policies using PTG-generated documentation.
What types of incidents does PTG respond to most frequently?
The most common incidents we respond to include ransomware attacks, business email compromise and wire fraud attempts, unauthorized network access, insider threats and data theft, phishing campaigns that compromise credentials, cloud account takeovers in Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, and web application compromises. Each incident type has a dedicated response playbook refined through years of real-world engagements, enabling our team to move immediately from detection to containment without delay.
How does PTG preserve evidence during incident response?
Evidence preservation is fundamental to every PTG engagement. Our forensic procedures include creating forensic images of affected systems using write-blockers, capturing volatile memory before any system modifications, preserving network traffic captures and log data, maintaining documented chain of custody for all evidence, and storing evidence in encrypted, access-controlled repositories. All evidence handling follows procedures designed to maintain admissibility in court and satisfy regulatory evidence preservation requirements including DFARS 90-day preservation mandates.
What certifications do PTG's incident responders hold?
PTG's incident response team holds industry-recognized certifications including SOC 2 compliance attestation, and CMMC-AB RPO registration. Our forensic examiners are trained in court-qualified evidence handling, and our team maintains ongoing training in the latest attack techniques, forensic tools, and regulatory requirements. PTG has been protecting organizations across the Triangle for over 24 years, building the institutional knowledge that only comes from decades of real-world incident response experience.