Incident Surge Mode
How to operate during high-volume vulnerability or threat spikes without losing decision quality.
Surge mode is for days when incident volume spikes and normal triage cadence breaks. The goal is controlled prioritization, not perfect completeness.
Activation Criteria
- Multiple critical vulnerabilities emerge in the same window.
- Active exploitation reports rise faster than team throughput.
- Alert queue growth exceeds agreed operational threshold.
Surge Triage Model
Tier 1: Immediate Action
- Exploited in the wild and externally exposed.
- Critical business systems affected.
- Clear mitigation exists and can be applied now.
Tier 2: Fast Follow
- Credible threat signals, partial internal exposure.
- Mitigation possible with moderate operational cost.
Tier 3: Monitored Backlog
- Limited exposure or strong compensating controls.
- Low-confidence signals pending additional evidence.
Surge Prompt Pattern
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Prioritize these alerts/issues into Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3 using: exploit evidence, internal exposure, business impact, and mitigation readiness. Return a 24-hour action list with owners.
Cadence During Surge
- Re-rank priorities every 4 to 6 hours.
- Publish one concise status brief per shift.
- Track deferred items explicitly to prevent silent drop-off.
- Record assumptions that could reverse prioritization.