By Mackenzie Gryder, with Ben Taylor
This blog is part of Gate 15’s Summer of Security: Ransomware Resilience Series, highlighting the essential considerations for organizational leaders and cybersecurity professionals.
What is a post-incident analysis?
A post-incident analysis (also referred to as a post-mortem or after-action review) is a structured review conducted after an incident to analyze what happened, how it happened, and how the organization responded. Instead of just focusing on recovery, a post-incident analysis digs deeper into root causes and decision-making processes. The goal is to identify security gaps, strengthen defenses, and improve the organization’s ability to handle future incidents. A key function in the post-incident process is to ensure all parties understand it is being done in a “no fault” environment, with a focus on productive solutions to strengthen organizational resiliency.
Why post-incidents matter?
According to Cyberreason’s Ransomware: The True Cost to Business Study 2024, 78% of organizations who paid a ransom demand were hit by a second ransomware attack. Given the high likelihood that a network breach will not be an isolated occurrence, it is critical that teams learn as much from the incident as possible. This will help not only in better mitigating future attacks but should also facilitate a more effective response in the future. These actions help build on a culture of continuous improvement and security. Ideally, post-incident analysis will be identified as a necessity within organizational incident response plans, and something that leadership both expect, and want to be involved in.
Key components of a thorough post-incident:
A thorough post-incident digs into what happened, why it happened, and how to prevent or improve future responses. As a reminder, it’s important for the individual who is conducting the post-incident to maintain a no-fault approach to the review to ensure transparency and accurate accounting by those involved in the process. The key components usually include:
- Incident Overview
- Clear, factual summary of what occurred
- Timeline of events (detection – response – resolution)
- Scope and impact (who/what was affected, for how long).
- Root Cause Analysis
- Identification of the primary and contributing causes.
- Discussion of whether it was a technical, human, process, or organization issue.
- Evidence or data supporting the analysis.
- Decision-making process review.
- Key individuals involved in the response should be interviewed to understand how, why, and when response actions took place.
- Actions taken should be compared with existing plans and procedures. If actions deviated from plans it is important to understand why. There may be a need for plans to be updated, or alternatively, an opportunity for additional employee training to ensure actions meet expectations.
- Documentation & reporting
- The findings are compiled into a comprehensive report, which serves as a basis for future security improvements.
- The report should feature actionable recommendations which are based on thorough analysis.
- The report should include an improvement plan that notes what changes will be made, who is responsible for those actions, and the anticipated timeline for the corrective actions to be taken.
Lessons learned and action items:
The most valuable outcome of a post-incident is turning insights into action. Action items should be specific, prioritized, and assigned to accountable stakeholders with clear timelines for completion. This ensure that lessons are not just acknowledged but implemented. Ransomware post-incidents are more than a technical checklist; they are part of cultivating resilience. By embedding post-incidents into organizational culture, leaders signal that every incident is an opportunity to learn, adapt, and evolve. Over time, this creates stronger defenses, more agile response capabilities, and a workforce that is proactive rather than reactive.
Unfortunately, incidents happen, even to the most prepared organizations. What is critical is to learn from them and use those experiences to further bolster preparedness and resilience. Gate 15 is available to support post-incident analysis to help document the response and to identify both areas of success and opportunities for organizational improvement. Crisis happens but never let a good incident go to waste!
Insights from our Weekly Ransomware Report.
Each week we publish our Weekly Ransomware Report (along with other all-hazards reports) through Gate 15’s Resilience and Intelligence Portal (GRIP). Contact us if you are interested in receiving the full report. Highlights from this week include:
- Most Active Threat Actors (victim number): Qilin (13), Akira (9), Devman (5)
- The true cost of cyber attacks – and the business weak spots that allow them to happen
- How to spot malicious emails with ransomware
- Defending against database ransomware attacks
Check out the new Gate 15 Ransomware Resilience page and learn more about some of our most popular ransomware services. Reference this blog post between now and the end of October 2025 and we’ll give you an extra 10% off the total exercise cost!
Join the GRIP! Stay informed of what’s new in all-hazards homeland security by joining the Gate 15’s Resilience and Intelligence Portal (GRIP). Join the GRIP! and join us in securing America’s people, places, data, and dollars. To join the GRIP, click the link above or here, scroll down and select the “Join the Grip!” button, or email our team at Gate15@Gate15.global.
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