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Incident Response Playbook Templates

Operational runbooks for Kubernetes security incidents. Each playbook combines decision trees, step-by-step procedures, and validation criteria to enable rapid, confident response to common incident patterns.

This library is designed for teams operating Kubernetes infrastructure at scale, where incident response speed and consistency directly impact security posture and business continuity.

How to Use This Library

Before an Incident

  1. Review each playbook relevant to your environment and threat model
  2. Customize commands and thresholds for your cluster configuration
  3. Test playbook steps in non-production environments
  4. Train on-call engineers on decision trees and escalation paths
  5. Integrate with monitoring and alerting systems

During an Incident

  1. Identify which playbook applies using decision trees
  2. Follow procedures in sequence without skipping steps
  3. Document actions and timestamps as you proceed
  4. Validate success criteria before moving to next phase
  5. Escalate if playbook doesn't resolve issue or if conditions change

After an Incident

  1. Collect evidence using post-incident procedures
  2. Complete RCA templates to identify root causes
  3. Track improvements in incident tracking system
  4. Update playbooks based on lessons learned

Playbook Categories

Detection Playbooks

Initial assessment and threat classification procedures. Use these when alerts fire to quickly determine incident severity and appropriate response path.

Coming soon: Detection playbook templates

Response Playbooks

Active containment and isolation procedures. Execute these to prevent incident spread and preserve forensic evidence.

Coming soon: Response playbook templates

Recovery Playbooks

Remediation and service restoration procedures. Apply these after containment to return to normal operations with verified fixes.

Coming soon: Recovery playbook templates

Practice Exercises

Tabletop exercises and simulation scenarios. Use these to train teams and validate playbook effectiveness before real incidents.

Coming soon: Tabletop exercise templates

Alert Classification Decision Tree

graph TD
    A["Incident Alert Triggered"] --> B{"Severity Level?"}
    B -->|Critical - Cluster unavailable| C["CRITICAL: Execute <br/>Active Threat Response"]
    B -->|High - Service degradation| D["HIGH: Execute <br/>Active Container Threat"]
    B -->|Medium - Anomalous behavior| E["MEDIUM: Execute <br/>Suspicious Activity Assessment"]
    B -->|Low - Policy violation| F["LOW: Execute <br/>Compliance Audit"]

    C --> C1["Page on-call engineer<br/>Declare SEV-1 incident<br/>Start war room"]
    D --> D1["Alert primary on-call<br/>Declare SEV-2 incident<br/>Notify team"]
    E --> E1["Create incident ticket<br/>Assign to engineer<br/>Set 1-hour response SLO"]
    F --> F1["Log for audit<br/>Schedule review<br/>No immediate response"]

    %% Ghostty Hardcore Theme
    style C fill:#dc2626
    style D fill:#ea580c
    style E fill:#eab308
    style F fill:#22c55e

Quick Reference: Incident Severity Levels

Level Criteria Response Playbook
SEV-1 (Critical) Cluster unavailable, widespread pod failures, data loss risk Page all on-call, declare war room, 15-min SLO Detection → Containment → Remediation (parallel)
SEV-2 (High) Service degradation, one pod compromised, customer impact Page primary on-call, 1-hour SLO Detection → Containment → Remediation (sequential)
SEV-3 (Medium) Anomalous behavior, no customer impact, security alert Create ticket, assign to engineer, 4-hour SLO Detection → Investigation (no immediate action)
SEV-4 (Low) Policy violation, compliance finding, no immediate threat Log for audit, schedule review, no SLO Audit only, no immediate action

Continuous Improvement

Playbook Review Schedule

  • Monthly: Review alerts that triggered playbooks for false positives
  • Quarterly: Update playbooks based on lessons learned from incidents
  • Semi-annually: Review against new threats and attack patterns
  • Annually: Comprehensive review and rewrite of all playbooks

Metrics to Track

  • Time to Detect: Goal: < 5 minutes from incident start
  • Time to Contain: Goal: < 15 minutes from detection
  • Time to Resolve: Goal: < 1 hour from detection
  • Accuracy: % of playbook steps that applied without modification
  • False Positives: % of alerts that weren't actual incidents

Feedback Loop

After each incident:

  1. RCA identifies gaps in playbook
  2. Update playbook with lessons learned
  3. Add new alert rules for faster detection
  4. Update runbook links in monitoring
  5. Run training on updated playbook
  6. Update metrics and SLOs based on performance

Additional Resources

Version History

Version Date Changes
1.0 2026-01-02 Initial version with Detection, Containment, Remediation, and Post-Incident playbooks

Contact and Support

For playbook updates, questions, or incident support:

  • On-Call: Page the primary on-call through your alerting system
  • Playbook Issues: File GitHub issue in the incident-response repository
  • Training: Contact your security/SRE team lead
  • Escalation: Use the escalation phone tree in your incident response plan

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