Inside the FBI’s Playbook for Cyber Resilience

Cybersecurity guidance is everywhere, from frameworks and regulations to vendor recommendations and best practice lists that often feel overwhelming or disconnected from day-to-day operations.

Operation Winter SHIELD stands out because it is rooted in real-world investigations. Led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, it translates years of incident response experience into ten actions that consistently reduce cyber risk and business disruption.

These are not theoretical controls. They are the measures that separate organizations that contain incidents quickly from those that experience prolonged downtime, data loss, and financial impact.

Below is how we interpret and operationalize this guidance for the organizations we support.

1. Make Credential Theft Significantly Harder

Most cyber intrusions still begin with compromised credentials. Stolen passwords remain one of the easiest and most reliable entry points for attackers.

Phish-resistant authentication removes this advantage by preventing attackers from reusing credentials, even when users are tricked.

Practical application

  • Prioritize administrators, executives, IT, and finance accounts

  • Use hardware-backed or device-bound authentication instead of SMS codes

  • Require number matching and domain display for authenticator apps

  • Disable legacy authentication methods that bypass modern protections

Strong identity controls dramatically reduce the likelihood of successful intrusion.

2. Treat Vulnerabilities as Business Risk, Not Background Noise

Attackers rarely rely on zero-day exploits. They most often exploit known vulnerabilities that remain unaddressed due to unclear ownership or delayed remediation.

An effective vulnerability management program focuses on accountability and speed.

Key elements

  • Maintain a complete asset inventory with assigned owners

  • Prioritize remediation based on business impact

  • Resolve critical vulnerabilities in days, not months

  • Document exceptions with compensating controls and defined end dates

Unowned risk inevitably becomes exploited risk.

3. Retire Technology Before It Becomes a Liability

End-of-life systems no longer receive security updates and are routinely targeted by attackers.

Resilient organizations

  • Maintain a rolling 12-month end-of-life forecast

  • Track aging systems by owner, location, and retirement date

  • Replace or isolate unsupported technology

  • Apply temporary safeguards only with firm decommission timelines

If a system cannot be secured, it should not remain in production.

4. Assume Third Parties Expand Your Attack Surface

An organization’s security posture extends to every vendor with network access or sensitive data.

Attackers frequently exploit third-party weaknesses to bypass stronger defenses.

Effective third-party risk management includes

  • A centralized inventory of vendors with named owners

  • Strong authentication and least-privilege access

  • Regular audits to disable unused accounts

  • Contractual requirements for breach notification and encryption

  • Confirmed access revocation and data disposition upon termination

Vendor risk is business risk.

5. Protect Logs as Critical Security Evidence

Security logs are essential for detection, response, and accountability. Attackers often attempt to delete or alter them early in an intrusion.

Strong logging practices

  • Centralize identity, endpoint, email, network, DNS, cloud, and remote access logs

  • Export logs daily to protected, immutable storage

  • Retain logs long enough to support investigations (12 months is a common baseline)

  • Regularly validate log completeness and retention

Without reliable logs, incident response becomes guesswork.

6. Ensure Backups Can Be Restored Under Pressure

Backups are routinely targeted before ransomware deployment. Resilience depends on isolation and regular testing.

Best practices

  • Follow the 3-2-1 backup rule with at least one offline, immutable copy

  • Secure backup systems with separate administrative access

  • Define recovery requirements for data, systems, and identity infrastructure

  • Test restorations regularly and measure recovery time

A backup that hasn’t been tested is not a recovery plan.

7. Reduce Internet Exposure Wherever Possible

Every internet-facing system increases risk.

Many organizations are unaware of how much of their infrastructure is externally accessible.

Risk-reducing steps

  • Maintain an inventory of all internet-reachable systems with owners

  • Remove unnecessary exposure

  • Replace direct remote access with brokered gateways

  • Regularly scan public IP space for new exposures

Less exposure means fewer opportunities for attackers.

8. Strengthen Email Authentication and Content Protections

Email remains one of the most reliable initial access vectors for cyber intrusions and fraud.

Effective controls

  • Enforce SPF, DKIM, and DMARC across all sending domains

  • Progress DMARC from monitoring to quarantine to reject

  • Quarantine high-risk attachments and block internet-sourced macros

  • Enable time-of-click link protection

  • Restrict automatic external forwarding

Email security is identity protection.

9. Ruthlessly Reduce Administrative Privileges

Excessive administrative access allows attackers to escalate quickly once credentials are compromised.

High-maturity environments

  • Minimize administrative accounts and group memberships

  • Separate standard and administrative identities

  • Require just-in-time privilege elevation from secured devices

  • Restrict where administrative logins are permitted

  • Monitor and alert on privilege changes

  • Remove local admin rights from endpoints with time-bound exceptions

Privilege sprawl silently magnifies risk.

10. Practice Incident Response Before an Incident Occurs

Organizations that rehearse their response act faster, contain more effectively, and reduce overall impact.

Keep response planning practical

  • Maintain a concise incident response playbook

  • Clearly define roles, decision authority, and isolation actions

  • Conduct focused tabletop exercises quarterly

  • Include leadership, legal, communications, and operations

  • Establish relationships with law enforcement in advance

Preparation reduces chaos when time matters most.

Who This Guidance Is Most Relevant For

While applicable to organizations of all sizes, this guidance is especially important for professional services firms, healthcare organizations, financial institutions, and any business that relies heavily on digital systems to operate.

A Practical Next Step

If you’re reading this and thinking, “I’m not sure how many of these we’re actually doing well,” that’s normal.

At Netready, we help organizations translate guidance like Operation Winter SHIELD into clear, prioritized action plans — without overwhelming internal teams or disrupting operations.

We start by identifying:

  • Where your highest-risk gaps actually are

  • Which controls will reduce the most risk the fastest

  • What can be improved immediately versus phased over time

Whether you need a focused cybersecurity assessment, help operationalizing these controls, or an ongoing security partner, our goal is simple: help you build resilience that works in the real world.

If you’d like a practical, no-pressure conversation about where your organization stands, you can reach out to the Netready team to start the discussion.