Winner, TechNews Fast 50 | ARN Innovation
24x7 Incident Response Services Australia
Respond fast, contain the threat, and restore business confidence. CyberPulse provides 24x7 incident response for Australian organisations facing active cyber attacks, from ransomware and business email compromise to data breaches. Our responders move quickly to contain the incident, eradicate the threat, and get you back to operations, then help you close the gaps that let it in.
Trusted by leading Australian organisations
CyberPulse clients include Minter Ellison, Veolia, Sydney Roosters, Meshed and Nexigen Digital.
Security Partner of the Year 2026
Awarded by
Incident Response for Government, Enterprise and FSI
When every second counts, we deliver immediate, coordinated response to cyber threats – with 24×7 global reach, elite threat intelligence, and tailored playbooks to protect your people, systems, and brand. Whether it’s ransomware, credential abuse, supply chain compromise or data theft – we bring control to chaos.
How quickly should you engage incident responders after a breach?
You should engage incident responders the moment you suspect a compromise, because the first 24 to 48 hours of containment largely decide how much data and cost the incident ultimately involves.
The first hours of a security incident shape the outcome. Every hour an attacker keeps access, they can move deeper, exfiltrate more data or trigger ransomware, which is why early containment matters and why volatile evidence must be preserved before systems are rebuilt in a panic. The stakes are significant for Australian organisations: ransomware attacks in Australia surged 38 percent in 2024 with an average business disruption window of 14 days (ACSC Annual Cyber Threat Report), and the average cost of an unmanaged breach exceeds AUD $300,000 (OAIC Breach Report 2024). CyberPulse offers emergency engagements around the clock, so triage does not wait for business hours. Warning signs worth acting on include unexpected account lockouts, unfamiliar logins, disabled security tools, encrypted files or ransom notes. If you are unsure whether an event is serious, treat it as one and call.
Business Value of Incident Response
- Ransomware attacks in Australia surged 38% in 2024, with an average business disruption window of 14 days. Source: ACSC Annual Cyber Threat Report 38%
- 67% of breached organisations faced regulatory or legal impact due to slow response or lack of evidence preservation. Source: OAIC Breach Report 2024 67%
- The average cost of an unmanaged breach exceeds AUD $300,000 – including downtime, customer churn, and recovery costs. Source: IBM Cost of a Data Breach Study 2024 99%
Our Incident Response Services
- ✓Emergency IR Engagements (24×7)
- ✓Digital Forensics & Evidence Preservation
- ✓Threat Containment & Response Playbooks
- ✓Ransomware & Malware Remediation
- ✓Cloud & SaaS Compromise Investigation
- ✓Insider Threat, Credential Abuse & Lateral Movement Analysis
- ✓Impact Reporting, Insurance Briefings & Regulator Submissions
- ✓Root Cause Analysis & Recovery Assurance
The incident response process
Our track record in numbers
Incident Response Retainers and Engagement Options
Most organisations meet an incident response provider for the first time on the worst day they have had. A retainer moves that introduction forward, so the terms are already agreed when the call is made. The sections below cover what a retainer settles in advance, and what the opening stage of an engagement actually involves.
What a retainer covers
An incident response retainer settles the commercial terms, the scope and the escalation contacts before anything happens, so the opening hours of an incident go on containment rather than on procurement. A retainer normally sets out who is authorised to invoke it, which systems and environments are in scope, how evidence is to be handled, and what response commitment applies.
Engaging without one
You can engage incident response without a retainer in place. The difference is that contracting, scoping and access arrangements all happen while the incident is live, and those are the hours that matter most. If you are dealing with an incident now and have no retainer, make contact first and sort the paperwork afterwards.
What the first hours look like
Early work is triage and containment: establishing what is affected, stopping the spread, and preserving evidence before it is overwritten. Preservation matters well beyond the technical response, because it is what later supports an insurance claim, a regulatory notification and any legal position you may need to take.
Notification obligations run in parallel
Organisations covered by the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme must assess whether an eligible data breach has occurred, and notify the OAIC and affected individuals where serious harm is likely. That assessment carries a statutory 30 day limit, so in practice the technical investigation and the notification assessment run alongside each other rather than one after the other.
What deliverables you receive after an incident response engagement
After an engagement you receive a documented account of the incident, the forensic evidence behind it and a practical plan to prevent recurrence.
CyberPulse incident response produces more than a technical fix. You receive an impact report that explains what happened, which systems and data were affected and how the intrusion progressed. Forensic evidence is preserved and documented to a standard that supports insurance claims and, where required, regulator submissions such as notifications under the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme. Executive dashboards translate the findings for boards and leadership who need clear decisions rather than raw logs. A root cause analysis identifies the initial entry point, and a remediation plan sets out the hardening steps that reduce the chance of a repeat. These outputs align with recognised guidance such as the NIST incident response lifecycle, giving your organisation a defensible record. The reporting is designed to close the incident properly, not simply restore service and move on.
Why CyberPulse?
Expertise
Award Winning Consultants with deep ISO 27001, SOC 2, and PCI-DSS expertise
Fixed-Price
Fixed-price delivery model with predictable costs and timelines
Support
End-to-end support — from gap analysis to certification and beyond
What They Say About Us
The managed service model delivers that, while freeing my team from the bulk of compliance coordination effort and lifting the quality of both controls and supporting evidence. The outcome is a programme with the capacity to mature further and to take on new certification frameworks proactively, ahead of client and regulatory triggers.
What stands out is the depth of expertise. CyberPulse brings real command of the standards and the threat landscape, and applies it with judgement rather than box-ticking. Year on year they strengthen our security and compliance maturity and give leadership confidence that risk is genuinely understood, not just documented.
CyberPulse gave us clarity we didn't have before, not just on where we stood but a practical path forward. The roadmap they delivered has become the foundation of how we think about security investment.
Their guidance was practical, clear, and always grounded in what actually mattered for our business. They didn't just help us tick boxes; they helped us build a security posture we're genuinely proud of. If you're serious about enterprise-grade security, I can't recommend CyberPulse highly enough.
CyberPulse didn't just help us build an ISMS; they helped us build a more resilient business. Their practical approach ensured that every control we implemented serves a real purpose and has a positive, tangible impact on our daily operations.
Speak to an incident response consultant
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does incident response cost, and how quickly can you start?
Cost depends on the scale of the incident, the number of systems involved and the depth of forensics required, so pricing is scoped once responders understand the situation. Emergency engagements can begin at any hour through the 24×7 line. A brief triage call helps size the response before work starts.
What is the difference between incident response and digital forensics?
Incident response is the broader effort to contain an attack, remove the threat and restore operations. Digital forensics is one part of that effort, focused on preserving evidence and reconstructing exactly what the attacker did. CyberPulse combines both, so containment and investigation support each other rather than compete.
Do you help with cyber insurance and regulator reporting?
Yes. Engagements produce impact reports, insurance briefings and regulator submissions. Under the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme an organisation has 30 days to assess whether an eligible data breach has occurred, and must notify the OAIC and affected individuals where serious harm is likely, so the evidence pack is built with that deadline and any cyber policy claim in mind rather than assembled afterwards.
Can you investigate a compromise in Microsoft 365 or cloud services?
Yes. CyberPulse investigates cloud and SaaS compromises, including Microsoft 365 account takeover, credential abuse and lateral movement between cloud and on-premises systems. The team preserves cloud logs and traces attacker activity across the environment.
What should we do in the first hour after discovering a breach?
Preserve evidence by leaving affected systems powered on where it is safe to do so, and avoid rushed rebuilds that destroy logs. Record what you have observed and when. Then contact incident responders so containment can begin without erasing the trail an investigation depends on.
Do you offer an incident response retainer?
Yes. A retainer agrees the commercial terms, the scope and the escalation contacts in advance, so the opening hours of an incident are spent on containment rather than on procurement and scoping. It also sets out who is authorised to invoke it and how evidence is handled. Organisations without a retainer can still engage, but that contracting happens while the incident is live.
When does a cyber incident have to be reported to the OAIC?
The Notifiable Data Breaches scheme applies where a data breach is likely to result in serious harm to any individual whose personal information is involved. An organisation has 30 days from becoming aware of a suspected eligible breach to complete its assessment, and must notify both the OAIC and the affected individuals if the threshold is met. Reporting to the ACSC is separate and is encouraged rather than a general obligation.
Should we pay a ransomware demand?
The Australian Signals Directorate does not condone paying a ransom. Payment does not guarantee that data is returned or deleted, it does not remove the attacker from the environment, and it can carry legal and sanctions exposure. The decision belongs to the organisation and usually involves its insurer and its lawyers, so the practical value of an incident response engagement is establishing what was actually taken and whether recovery is possible without paying.
What is Incident Response?
Incident response is the structured process an organisation follows to detect a cyber security incident, limit its impact, remove the cause and return to normal operations. Most providers structure an engagement around the four phase life cycle set out in NIST SP 800-61. In Australia a second obligation runs alongside it: organisations covered by the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme must assess whether an eligible data breach has occurred within 30 days, and notify the OAIC and affected individuals where serious harm is likely.
| Phase | What happens | What you need in place |
|---|---|---|
| Preparation | Plans, playbooks, contacts and access are agreed and tested before an incident. | An incident response plan, an escalation list, and retained logs long enough to investigate with. |
| Detection and analysis | The event is identified, scoped and classified, and its severity set. | Monitoring that reaches endpoints, identity and cloud, not just the network perimeter. |
| Containment, eradication and recovery | Spread is stopped, the cause is removed, and systems are returned to normal operation. | Known-good backups, and a tested restore, not just a backup job that reports success. |
| Post-incident activity | Findings are documented, root cause established and controls changed. | A written report that will stand up to an insurer, a regulator and a board. |