Incident Response Time & Cost Calculator

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Incident Response Time & Cost Calculator

Estimate the total labor cost and time required to respond to a security incident based on severity level, team composition, and response phases.

Incident Severity Level

P1 – Critical (e.g., active breach, ransomware) P2 – High (e.g., confirmed malware, data exposure) P3 – Medium (e.g., phishing attempt, policy violation) P4 – Low (e.g., false positive, minor anomaly)

Number of Security Analysts Involved

Analyst Hourly Rate (USD)

Number of Managers / IR Leads Involved

Manager / IR Lead Hourly Rate (USD)

External / Vendor Hours (e.g., MSSP, forensics firm)

External Vendor Hourly Rate (USD)

Overhead / Indirect Cost Multiplier (%)

Covers tooling, communication, documentation, management overhead.

Calculate

// Severity presets: [detection_h, containment_h, eradication_h, recovery_h, postmortem_h] // Based on SANS IR lifecycle phase time estimates by severity const INC_SEVERITY_PHASES = { 1: { label: "P1 – Critical", detection: 1, containment: 4, eradication: 8, recovery: 16, postmortem: 4 }, 2: { label: "P2 – High", detection: 2, containment: 6, eradication: 10, recovery: 12, postmortem: 3 }, 3: { label: "P3 – Medium", detection: 3, containment: 4, eradication: 4, recovery: 4, postmortem: 2 }, 4: { label: "P4 – Low", detection: 1, containment: 1, eradication: 1, recovery: 1, postmortem: 1 } };

function incUpdateMultipliers() { // Could dynamically update hints — kept simple here }

function incCalc() { const severity = parseInt(document.getElementById("inc-severity").value); const analysts = parseFloat(document.getElementById("inc-analysts").value); const analystRate = parseFloat(document.getElementById("inc-analyst-rate").value); const managers = parseFloat(document.getElementById("inc-managers").value); const managerRate = parseFloat(document.getElementById("inc-manager-rate").value); const extHours = parseFloat(document.getElementById("inc-external").value); const extRate = parseFloat(document.getElementById("inc-external-rate").value); const overheadPct = parseFloat(document.getElementById("inc-overhead").value);

// --- Validation --- const errors = []; if (isNaN(analysts) || analysts 0) { resultDiv.innerHTML = "⚠ " + errors.join("⚠ ") + ""; return; }

const phases = INC_SEVERITY_PHASES[severity];

// Total elapsed wall-clock hours (sequential IR lifecycle) const totalElapsedHours = phases.detection + phases.containment + phases.eradication + phases.recovery + phases.postmortem;

// Internal labor hours = each person works across all phases // Analysts and managers are assumed engaged for the full incident duration const internalAnalystHours = analysts * totalElapsedHours; const internalManagerHours = managers * totalElapsedHours;

// Labor costs const analystCost = internalAnalystHours * analystRate; const managerCost = internalManagerHours * managerRate; const externalCost = extHours * extRate;

const directLaborCost = analystCost + managerCost + externalCost;

// Overhead applied to direct labor const overheadCost = directLaborCost * (overheadPct / 100);

// Total cost const totalCost = directLaborCost + overheadCost;

// Total person-hours (internal only, for reporting) const totalInternalPersonHours = internalAnalystHours + internalManagerHours;

// Format helpers const fmt = v => "$" + v.toLocaleString("en-US", {minimumFractionDigits: 2, maximumFractionDigits: 2}); const fmtH = v => v.toLocaleString("en-US", {minimumFractionDigits: 1, maximumFractionDigits: 1}) + " hrs";

resultDiv.innerHTML = ` ### 📊 Incident Response Estimate — ${phases.label}

IR Phase Estimated Duration

${fmtH(phases.detection)} 🛡 Containment ${fmtH(phases.containment)} 🧹 Eradication ${fmtH(phases.eradication)} ♻️ Recovery ${fmtH(phases.recovery)} 📝 Post-Incident Review ${fmtH(phases.postmortem)}

⏱ Total Elapsed Time ${fmtH(totalElapsedHours)}

Cost Component Person-Hours Cost

👩‍💻 Security Analysts (×${analysts} @ ${fmt(analystRate)}/hr) ${fmtH(internalAnalystHours)} ${fmt(analystCost)}

👔 Managers / IR Leads (×${managers} @ ${fmt(managerRate)}/hr) ${fmtH(internalManagerHours)} ${fmt(managerCost)}

🏢 External / Vendor (${fmtH(extHours)} @ ${fmt(extRate)}/hr) ${fmtH(extHours)} ${fmt(externalCost)}

⚙️ Overhead (${overheadPct}% of direct labor) — ${fmt(overheadCost)}

💰 Total Incident Response Cost ${fmtH(totalInternalPersonHours + extHours)} ${fmt(totalCost)}

Note: Elapsed time reflects sequential IR phases. Person-hours reflect all team members engaged across the full incident duration. External hours are additive.

`; }

#### Formulas Used

Total Elapsed Time (hrs) = Detection + Containment + Eradication + Recovery + Post-Incident Review

Analyst Person-Hours = Number of Analysts × Total Elapsed Time

Manager Person-Hours = Number of Managers × Total Elapsed Time

Direct Labor Cost = (Analyst Person-Hours × Analyst Rate) + (Manager Person-Hours × Manager Rate) + (External Hours × External Rate)

Overhead Cost = Direct Labor Cost × (Overhead % ÷ 100)

Total Incident Response Cost = Direct Labor Cost + Overhead Cost

Phase durations are severity-driven presets based on SANS IR lifecycle benchmarks and can be adjusted via the severity selector.

#### Assumptions & References

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References

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