An incident response plan (IRP) is a document that outlines the procedures an organization will follow to respond to and recover from cyber security incidents, such as cyber-attacks. The goal of an IRP is to minimize the damage caused by a cyber attack and to ensure that the organization can return to normal operations as quickly as possible.

To protect against cyber attacks, incident response plans typically include the following:

1. Preparation: Establishing an incident response team, assigning roles and responsibilities, and providing training to ensure that all employees understand their roles in incident response.
2. Identification: Defining procedures for detecting and identifying cyberattacks, such as monitoring network traffic and logs, and establishing incident response thresholds.
3. Containment: Defining procedures for containing a cyber attack and minimizing its spread, such as disconnecting compromised systems from the network or shutting down a compromised service.
4. Eradication: Defining procedures for eliminating the cause of a cyber attack, such as by removing malware or patching vulnerabilities.
5. Recovery: Defining procedures for restoring normal system operations and data access for legitimate users, such as by restoring from backups or failover to alternative systems.
6. Lessons learned: Defining procedures for analyzing the incident to identify what went wrong and what can be done to prevent similar incidents in the future.
7. Communication: Defining procedures for communicating with employees, customers, and partners about the incident and the actions taken to address it.
8. Testing and rehearsal: Regularly testing and rehearsing the incident response plan to ensure that it is effective and that employees understand their roles and responsibilities.
9. Update and maintain the IRP: Regularly update the incident response plan to reflect changes in the organization, its operations, and the threat landscape, and ensure that all employees are familiar with it.

By having a well-established incident response plan in place, organizations can minimize the impact of a cyber attack, respond quickly and effectively, and recover from the attack in a planned and orderly manner. This helps to prevent any long-term damage, and minimize the legal, financial, and reputational consequences that can result from a cyber attack.