Incident Response
Incident Response
Cyber incidents don’t follow a 9-to-5 schedule. When ransomware hits, when accounts are compromised, when data starts leaving the network – every minute the attack continues, the cost goes up. SA1 Solutions provides rapid incident response, isolating the threat, recovering your systems and giving you a clear picture of what happened – fast.
We don’t just restore operations and walk away. Every response includes root cause analysis, hardening recommendations and lessons learned — so the same attack doesn’t succeed twice.
Types of Incidents We Handle
Whatever you are facing, our incident response team has handled it before. Here is how we deal with the most common incidents affecting businesses across Swansea, Cardiff and South Wales.
Ransomware Attack
Ransomware encrypts your files and demands payment to restore access, often spreading laterally across networks within hours.
How we respond- Isolate affected devices immediately
- Identify the ransomware variant
- Restore from clean backups where possible
- Trace and close the entry point
Business Email Compromise
An attacker gains access to an executive or finance account and uses it to send fraudulent payment requests or invoice scams. One of the highest-cost incident types for UK businesses.
How we respond- Lock down the compromised account
- Audit recent emails sent in your name
- Work with your bank on payment recovery
- Notify external parties who received fraudulent messages
Phishing Compromise
An employee clicks a malicious link or shares credentials with an attacker impersonating a trusted source.
How we respond- Reset the affected account
- Enforce MFA
- Audit account activity since compromise
- Check for further compromised accounts and exposed data
Account Takeover
An attacker has gained access to a user account, often admin or executive, and is impersonating that user or escalating privileges.
How we respond- Force sign-out across all sessions
- Reset credentials and enable MFA
- Audit recent activity and data accessed
- Review for backdoors and persistent access
Data Breach or Exfiltration
Sensitive data such as customer records, financial information or intellectual property has been accessed or removed by an unauthorised party.
How we respond- Identify exactly what data was accessed
- Determine the scope and timeline
- Preserve forensic evidence
- Support ICO notification within 72 hours under UK GDPR
Malware Infection
Malicious software such as trojans, spyware, keyloggers or cryptojackers has been installed on one or more systems without authorisation.
How we respond- Isolate infected machines
- Identify the malware family and capabilities
- Determine the entry point
- Clean or rebuild systems and hunt for related infections
Cloud Account Compromise
An attacker has gained access to your Microsoft 365, Azure or Google Workspace tenant, often the most damaging incident type given the breadth of access involved.
How we respond- Identify the scope of access
- Lock down compromised admin accounts
- Audit changes: mailbox rules, MFA bypasses, new admins
- Find persistence and harden against re-entry
Suspected Compromise
You think something might be wrong, such as unusual login alerts, strange behaviour or employee reports, but there is no confirmed attack yet.
How we respond- Run rapid triage to confirm or rule out an incident
- Threat-hunt for indicators of compromise
- Confirm clean status or escalate to full response
Our Incident Response Process
A structured six-step approach to containing, investigating and recovering from cyber incidents, keeping businesses operational when attacks happen.
Preparation
Effective incident response starts long before an incident happens. We build response playbooks tailored to your environment, define escalation paths, configure detection and logging, and ensure backups are ready and tested, so when an attack lands, we already know exactly what to do.
Detection and Analysis
When suspicious activity is detected, our team analyses the alert immediately, confirming whether it's a genuine incident, identifying the type of attack, and assessing the scope. The faster we determine what we're dealing with, the faster we can contain it.
Containment
Once confirmed, our priority is stopping the spread. We isolate affected devices, block malicious traffic, disable compromised accounts and apply emergency controls to prevent lateral movement, buying time to investigate without the attack getting worse.
Eradication
With the threat contained, we remove it. Malware is cleaned or systems rebuilt from clean images, attacker persistence mechanisms are eliminated, compromised credentials are rotated, and exploited vulnerabilities are patched, closing every door the attacker used.
Recovery
We restore your systems to normal operation in a controlled way, bringing services back online from verified-clean backups, monitoring for any signs of residual threat, and confirming that business operations can resume safely.
Post-Incident Review
Every incident is a learning opportunity. You receive a clear, jargon-free report covering what happened, how it was contained, what data was affected, and specific recommendations to prevent recurrence. We also handle ICO notification support and cyber insurance documentation where required.
Click each phase on the curve to explore the process
Why Welsh businesses choose SA1 for incident response
When an incident hits, you need a team that answers, fast. Ours is Swansea-based, on UK time, and on the ground when it matters most.
Rapid, reliable response
When an incident hits, every minute matters. Our team responds in minutes, not hours, containing threats before they spread, isolating affected systems, and getting you back to operational fast. No call centres, no offshore handoffs, no waiting for the right person to come on shift.
Local expertise and experience
Your incident response team is based in Swansea, not offshore, not outsourced. We are on the ground, on UK time, and work directly with UK regulators and cyber insurers. When you need someone you can actually call during a breach, that is us.
Minimised downtime and cost
Every hour a cyber incident goes unresolved costs you: lost revenue, broken customer trust, and recovery expenses that grow by the minute. Our rapid containment and structured recovery process is built to compress incident timelines and limit the financial impact.
Clear documentation and insight
Every response includes a clear, jargon-free report covering what happened, how it was contained, what data was affected, and how to prevent it recurring. Reports are formatted to support cyber insurance claims, ICO notifications, and board-level briefings.
Regulatory compliance under pressure
Cyber incidents often trigger reporting obligations under UK GDPR, including the 72-hour ICO notification window for personal data breaches. We guide your compliance throughout the response, document the incident in the format insurers require, and make sure nothing slips through the cracks.
Have You Been Breached?
Don't wait. Every minute a cyber attack continues, the damage grows. Our incident response team is ready to help businesses across Swansea, Cardiff and South Wales. Call us now.
Office hours line. Out-of-hours emergency response available.
Contact us today
Contact SA1 today to find out more information about how we can manage help your organisation become more protected.