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Business Continuity Management / Disaster Recovery
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Governance & Risk Management
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Incident & Breach Response

The Critical Disciples of Incident Response and Crisis Management in Cybersecurity


July 23, 2025    

Cyber First Responders: Once More Unto the Breach
Image: Shutterstock

When disaster strikes, most people think of fire trucks, ambulances and emergency broadcast alerts. They don’t picture a cybersecurity analyst rerouting traffic through a backup server. They don’t imagine a SOC team scanning logs in the middle of the night while a hurricane makes landfall. They rarely need to think about how many lives depend on the stability and security of digital infrastructure.

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But we all should.

If you’re looking for a career that lets you serve your community and protect critical systems, cybersecurity may be right for you. It offers more than just technical work. It’s a crisis discipline and increasingly, one of the most vital roles in disaster resilience.

Cyber Is an Operational Risk

Cybersecurity is often misunderstood as purely preventative. In reality, it’s deeply operational. When physical systems are damaged, human coordination breaks down, or the public is in danger, digital infrastructure becomes the lifeline – and that lifeline must be secure.

Consider the impact of a major hurricane. In communities such as Asheville, North Carolina, where flooding and wind damage knocked out power and severed communications this year, first responders rely on stable networks to coordinate relief. A close friend of mine, serving as a FEMA emergency nurse-in-charge, worked on the ground in those conditions, doing everything possible to keep patients safe. But even with boots on the ground, much of the response still depends on technology. Hospitals rely on access to electronic health records. Water treatment systems require functioning digital controls. If these systems fail – or worse, are compromised – the disaster escalates.

This is where cybersecurity professionals play a critical role in a crisis. They validate the integrity of core systems, monitor for opportunistic attacks, support digital recovery efforts and ensure emergency services remain operational when every minute counts.

The Forgotten Layer of Response

In high-profile events, cybersecurity is no longer invisible. When Phoenix hosted the Super Bowl, the city didn’t just prepare for traffic and crowd control. It staged one of the largest coordinated cybersecurity operations in the country. Teams worked with law enforcement and national security agencies to prevent potential attacks targeting everything from stadium control systems to public Wi-Fi.

What was once an afterthought is now a requirement. The digital layer is inseparable from the physical one, and cybersecurity professionals are part of the incident response.

This shift is reshaping what it means to work in the field. Analysts, engineers and threat hunters are finding themselves embedded in emergency planning meetings and tabletop exercises. They’re creating playbooks not just for malware, but for floods, fires and attacks that disrupt both virtual and real-world systems.

Career Paths That Protect What Matters

If you’re considering a career in cybersecurity and you’re driven by public service, the field offers clear on-ramps to roles that directly support community safety. These positions exist in government, critical infrastructure, healthcare and private firms contracted to support public operations:

  • Incident response analyst: Responds in real time to breaches or suspicious activity, particularly in high-risk scenarios.
  • Cyberthreat intelligence specialist: Monitors geopolitical developments and attack trends, often informing disaster readiness teams.
  • Critical infrastructure security officer: Protects operational technology and SCADA systems for utilities, transportation and emergency services.
  • Disaster recovery and business continuity planner: Designs and tests failover strategies to ensure secure operations in times of crisis.
  • Cyber liaison or advisor: Serves as the point of contact between IT, physical security and emergency management agencies.

These jobs aren’t abstract. They are central to community and national resilience. They are accessible to professionals with strong problem-solving skills, attention to detail, a steady presence in high-stress situations and a desire to protect – not just from hackers, but from all potential harm.

Preparing to Serve in a Crisis Discipline

Working in cybersecurity during a disaster requires a specific mindset. You need to think tactically, adapt quickly and make decisions under pressure. You’ll be called on not just to secure systems, but to support people in their most vulnerable moments.

That means developing both technical and human skills:

  • Composure under stress: Just like EMTs or emergency managers, cyber professionals often work with limited data and shifting conditions. You’ll need to prioritize fast, make partial decisions and communicate clearly.
  • Interdisciplinary coordination: You won’t work in isolation. You’ll partner with law enforcement, legal, PR, facilities and executives, especially in complex incidents.
  • Resilience and preparedness: Crisis disciplines demand readiness. That means running drills, refining playbooks and building muscle memory for when things go wrong.

If that sounds like firefighting or emergency medicine, it’s because the parallels are real. The cybersecurity workforce increasingly includes professionals from military, emergency management and law enforcement backgrounds for a reason. The field rewards decisiveness and clarity.

A Calling, Not Just a Career

At its core, cybersecurity in disaster response is about protecting people. You may not be driving an ambulance or flying into a storm zone, but you’re keeping the systems operational that help others to do their jobs. You’re preserving data that keeps families safe. You’re preventing chaos from spreading.

It’s not flashy work, but it is essential.

Whether you’re mid-career and looking for a more mission-driven role, or just starting out and wondering where your skills can do the most good, consider this: Cybersecurity is one of the few careers where technical skill and public service intersect daily. It offers more than a paycheck. It offers purpose.