Incident Response SLA, Readiness Assessment, and 24/7 Hotline
Incident Response SLA, No Upfront Cost
Sign an incident response service level agreement with Global Digital Forensics at no upfront cost. We commit to response times and hourly rates in writing and keep your network information and contacts on file, so responders start with context. The next time an auditor, regulator or insurer asks how you would respond to a breach, you have a signed SLA to show them.
The agreement
No Upfront Cost to Sign, Clear Terms From Day One
The GDF Incident Response SLA is a service level agreement you sign before anything goes wrong, and signing it costs nothing upfront. In the agreement we commit to response times and to the hourly rates for the work, so the terms are settled while the network is quiet. Your side is straightforward: you commit to using GDF for incident response, and you give us your network information, key contacts and the environment details our responders need.
We store that information on file. When you call the 24/7 hotline, responders start with your environment, your contacts and the agreed terms already on file, so the response begins with context. The response sequence follows NIST SP 800-61 Revision 3, the NIST incident response recommendations.
The hotline answers whether or not an SLA is in place: (800) 868-8189.
Tell us about your environment on a free first call and we will walk you through the SLA terms. Set up your SLA.
Who Signs an Incident Response SLA
- Utilities and critical infrastructure operators
- Financial institutions
- Law firms and their clients
- Healthcare organizations
- Manufacturers
Commitments
What GDF Commits To and What You Provide
Both sides commit to something specific, and every term is written into the SLA before you sign.
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Response times in writing
We commit to response times in the agreement, so you know how quickly a responder engages after you call the hotline.
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Hourly rates set in advance
The hourly rates for response work are committed in the SLA, so nobody negotiates price while an attacker is still inside the network.
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Your environment on file
You provide network information, contacts and environment details, and we store them so responders start with context instead of rebuilding it on the first call.
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GDF as your response firm
You commit to using GDF for incident response, so the team holding your environment details is the team that answers the call.
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One forensic readiness assessment
You have one forensic readiness assessment performed by GDF, at a price we negotiate with you.
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Audit and compliance support
We support you in audits that ask about incident response, and we help draft policies and implement regulatory frameworks at negotiated rates.
Readiness assessment
One Forensic Readiness Assessment at a Negotiated Price
Under the SLA, you have one forensic readiness assessment performed by GDF at a price negotiated with you. The assessment is where our examiners look at the records an incident response depends on, such as logs, backups and the evidence sources across your environment, and it puts the network information you provided to work before an incident rather than during one. Our forensic readiness assessment page describes how the assessment is run.
Ask about the assessment and the SLA on a free consultation. Set up your SLA.
Audit support
A Signed SLA to Show Auditors, Regulators and Insurers
Auditors, regulators, insurers and examiners ask the same question in different words: what happens when you have an incident? With the GDF Incident Response SLA in place, the answer is a signed agreement with a forensic firm, committed response times and your environment details already on file. GDF supports you in those audits, so the question about incident response has a ready answer.
Policy and compliance
Policies and Regulatory Frameworks Drafted With Your Team
The same team helps draft the policies your incident response depends on and implement the regulatory frameworks you are measured against, at negotiated rates, to keep your organization compliant. For a written incident response plan, our separate forensic readiness and incident response planning service builds it around your real evidence sources.
Bring your current policies and the frameworks you answer to. Talk with an examiner.
Methodology
From the Hotline Call to the Final Report
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Onboard: Your Environment on File
When you sign, we record the network information, contacts and environment details you provide, so both teams start from the same picture.
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Activate: One Call to the Hotline
Call (800) 868-8189 with the affected systems, the immediate risks and your authorized contact. We respond within the response times your SLA sets.
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Contain: Preservation in the Same Motion
Evidence is captured as containment proceeds, because an attacker who still has access can destroy the records that explain the intrusion.
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Examine: Trace the Intrusion
We document every acquisition and containment change and trace the attacker's activity across hosts, identities and cloud services.
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Report: Findings and Remediation Guidance
You receive findings and remediation guidance written for the people who have to act on them.
New to forensic work? The Digital Forensics FAQ for Attorneys and Businesses answers common questions about how examiners handle evidence.
What the file delivers
A Response File Built From the First Hour
The file opens with the authority to act and keeps a dated record of alerts, decisions, containment steps and evidence handling, so regulators, auditors and your own team receive an account they can test line by line.
Confirmed activity and working hypotheses are recorded separately, so an early assumption never hardens into a reported fact.
Want to see how the file is structured before you sign? Ask on a free consultation.
- Scope letter and stated assumptionsThe scope letter records the questions, the sources examined, the exclusions and the assumptions behind the analysis.
- Evidence handling recordThe handling record documents acquisition details, hash values, storage, transfers and the custody history for every item.
- Methodology statementThe methodology statement identifies tools, versions and procedures so another qualified examiner can assess and repeat the work where the source permits.
- Findings, separated from interpretationFindings distinguish observed facts from expert interpretation and identify the evidence that supports each opinion.
- Open questions and next stepsThe report names each open question and the further work that would close it.
- Exhibits and supporting materialExtracted artifacts, timelines and schedules become exhibits for a regulator, an auditor or your leadership team.
- Response timeline and decision logThe dated timeline records detection, decisions and actions in the order they happened, ready for regulatory and audit review.
Who answers the call
Responders Who Write Records Courts Accept
The hotline reaches a firm founded in 1992 whose examiners have testified in federal and state courts. Its practitioners include Joseph Caruso, founder, CEO and CTO, who holds the CISSP and brings a cybersecurity incident response background, and Robert Knudsen, who brings eighteen years of forensic experience. Meet the team.
Want that team behind your incident response? Call (800) 868-8189 and ask about the Incident Response SLA. The same number is your activation line once the agreement is signed.
Credentials & standards
- Examiners who have testified in federal and state courts lead the forensic work.
- One 24/7 hotline, (800) 868-8189, for every client.
- Response times and hourly rates committed in writing in the SLA.
- Sixteen US offices and a practice founded in 1992.
Response discipline
Fast Action, Documented as It Happens
Speed and documentation work together. The response sequence ties every urgent action to the evidence that will explain it later.
The response sequence
Triage establishes the apparent compromise and the first reporting questions. Containment limits further exposure, eradication removes the attacker's tools and access, and controlled recovery returns systems to production. The after action review records what happened and what changes, so the lessons carry into the next plan.
Documentation as a deliverable
Eradication actions, validation checks, the systems tested and the visibility that remains all go on the record. Your team gets a documented basis for reporting and further work, and every conclusion rests on the work actually performed.
Insider incidents
Some incidents start with a trusted account. The response examines misuse of legitimate access with the same rigor as an outside intrusion, and the evidence decides which accounts and systems we follow.
An incident under way right now? Call (800) 868-8189.
Frequently asked
SLA Cost, Commitments, Audits and the Hotline
What does it cost to sign the Incident Response SLA?
Nothing upfront. Signing the SLA has no upfront cost. The agreement sets the response times and the hourly rates GDF commits to, so the terms are settled before an incident.
What does our organization commit to?
You commit to using GDF for incident response and you provide your network information, contacts and similar environment details, which we store so responders start with context. You also have one forensic readiness assessment performed by GDF at a negotiated price.
How does the SLA help when auditors or insurers ask about incident response?
When auditors, regulators, insurers or examiners ask how you would respond to an incident, you can show that an incident response SLA is in place, and GDF supports you in those audits.
Can GDF help with policies and regulatory frameworks?
Yes. GDF helps draft policies and implement the regulatory frameworks you answer to, at negotiated rates, so your organization stays compliant.
What happens when we call the hotline?
Call (800) 868-8189, answered 24/7, with the affected systems, the immediate risks and the name of your authorized contact. We respond within the response times your SLA sets, working from the network information and contacts already on file.
Will you help if we have not signed an SLA yet?
Yes. The 24/7 hotline answers every caller at (800) 868-8189. The SLA settles the response times, the hourly rates and your environment details in advance, so they are already in place when you call.
Talk with an examiner
Responders Who Start With Your Network on File
Bring your critical systems, your current response plan and the audits you expect to a free initial consultation. We will walk through the SLA terms, the information we keep on file and the forensic readiness assessment.
Global Digital Forensics has served clients since 1992. The hotline is answered 24/7.
Get incident help now
Sign the SLA Before the Next Incident Tests You
On the first call an examiner asks about your environment and the audits you answer to, then walks you through the SLA terms. The consultation is free and signing has no upfront cost. If an incident is already under way, the same call starts the response.
Reviewed by Joseph Caruso, Founder, CEO and CTO, CISSP. Last reviewed .