Back to Blog
2026-05-08· 7 min read

Ransomware Incident Response Playbook — Containment & Recovery Steps | Vaarta

Step-by-step ransomware incident response playbook. Containment, eradication, recovery, and prevention procedures for Indian organizations facing ransomware.

Incident Response Ransomware Blue Team Business Continuity

Hour 1: Containment

1. Isolate affected systems (unplug ethernet, disable WiFi)

2. Do NOT turn off systems (memory may contain decryption keys)

3. Preserve evidence (screenshots, logs, network traffic)

4. Activate incident response team


Hours 2-24: Assessment

Determine attack vector, identify affected systems, assess data exposure, check if backups are intact.


Days 1-7: Eradication

Rebuild from clean backups, reset all credentials, patch vulnerabilities, scan for persistence mechanisms.


Weeks 1-4: Recovery

Restore data from verified clean backups, gradually restore services, monitor for re-infection.


Prevention

  • Offline backups (3-2-1 strategy)
  • Network segmentation
  • Endpoint detection and response (EDR)
  • Regular security scans with Vaarta.space

  • Conclusion

    Have a documented response plan BEFORE attacks occur. Practice with quarterly tabletop exercises.


    Ready to check your domain security?

    Run a free scan to identify potential vulnerabilities.

    Start Free Scan