The first time I ever saw Josh Wright, he was standing on a conference table in a hotel somewhere in Florida, acting out a scene where he had a suitcase in one hand and was rappelling from a helicopter with the other. It was completely ridiculous and absolutely perfect.

Right then and there, I knew something important. No matter how hard I worked to become the best instructor that SANS ever produced, that title was already taken. Josh had it.

Every time I’ve had the chance to see him teach or present, it has been memorable. He is funny, engaging, and completely authentic. More importantly, what he teaches matters. He has a way of taking complex topics and turning them into something that changes how people think about security at a fundamental level.

Over the years, as Josh took over SANS SEC504 (Hacker Tools, Techniques, and Incident Handling) from me, just as I had taken it from Ed Skoudis, I had a front-row seat to watch that class continue to evolve. It stayed true to the foundation that Ed built, but Josh pushed it further than I ever expected. It grew into something even more impactful, reaching more people and shaping more careers.

Incident response is not new. Organizations have been dealing with breaches for years. But we are at a moment right now where everything is changing. Artificial intelligence is reshaping how both attackers and defenders operate. Insurance requirements are influencing security decisions. SaaS platforms are expanding the attack surface in ways that many organizations are still struggling to fully understand.

This book meets that moment.

It bridges what has worked in the past with what is coming next. It does not just focus on the technical details of incident response. It addresses the larger conversations that organizations need to have long before an incident occurs. It forces you to think about priorities, communication, and decision-making under pressure.

I get asked all the time why organizations cannot simply rely on tools. Why not just deploy automation, orchestration, or AI and let it handle everything?

The answer is simple. It does not work that way. At least, not yet…​.

We have more tools than ever before, and yet we continue to see major breaches. More concerning, we continue to see organizations handle those breaches poorly. Sometimes communication breaks down internally. Sometimes customers are left in the dark. Sometimes there is no clear plan for what matters most during an incident. Is the priority restoring operations, or is it understanding the full scope of the compromise?

These are not new problems. They are the same problems we were dealing with ten years ago. And they are still with us today.

What makes this book stand out is that it tackles those challenges head on. It helps you think through the decisions that matter before you are forced to make them in the middle of a crisis. It also provides practical guidance you can use immediately. There are real examples, actionable techniques, and clear explanations that make it useful whether you are just getting started or have been doing incident response for years.

One of the things I appreciate most is the dynamic approach to incident response that Josh presents. I have spent years teaching and performing incident response, and I have often felt that many existing frameworks were missing something. This approach brings it together in a way that is both practical and adaptable. It gives organizations a model they can implement quickly while still addressing the complexity of real-world incidents.

Most importantly, it encourages the conversations that need to happen before things go wrong. It helps bring stakeholders together, clarify priorities, and build a shared understanding of what success looks like during an incident.

I am honored to introduce this book. I believe it will challenge how you think about incident response and, more importantly, how you prepare for it.

Read this book.

Implement it.

Then, go forth and do great things.