MTTR (Mean Time to Respond/Remediate) is the average time it takes to contain and resolve a security incident after it has been detected.
MTTR
MTTR (Mean Time to Respond/Remediate) is the average time it takes to contain and resolve a security incident after it has been detected.
Why It Matters
The IBM 2024 Cost of a Data Breach Report found that breaches contained in under 200 days cost $1.02 million less than those taking longer. Every hour of response time directly correlates with financial and reputational damage.
How It Works
MTTR is calculated from the moment an incident is detected to the moment it is fully resolved. It includes investigation, containment, eradication, and recovery phases. Faster MTTR requires pre-planned runbooks, automated tooling, and clear ownership.
Best Practices
- Create incident response runbooks for common scenarios
- Ensure credentials can be revoked in under 5 minutes
- Automate containment where possible
- Conduct regular tabletop exercises to improve response speed
Common Mistakes
- Not having a documented incident response plan
- Requiring key rotation (slow) instead of token revocation (fast)
- Multiple approvals needed before containment actions can be taken
How ShieldKey Helps
ShieldKey reduces MTTR for credential incidents to seconds. Instead of rotating keys across multiple services (hours to days), you revoke a Shield Token in one click from the dashboard.
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What is a good MTTR for security incidents?
Best-in-class organizations achieve MTTR under 1 hour for credential-related incidents. The industry average is much longer — days to weeks. With a proxy like ShieldKey, credential revocation takes seconds.