--- title: Acronis integration with Storage Guardian’s Incident Response Planner description: Storage Guardian, in partnership with Acronis, has launched the Incident Response Planner to help organizations meet CIS Control 17 – Incident Response Management. canonical_url: https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/posts/acronis-integration-with-storage-guardians-incident-response-planner/ locale: en last_updated: 2026-10-27 --- [Acronis Blog](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/) # Acronis integration with Storage Guardian’s Incident Response Planner Storage Guardian, in partnership with Acronis, has launched the Incident Response Planner to help organizations meet CIS Control 17 – Incident Response Management. [Try Now](https://www.acronis.com/en/products/cloud/trial/) [![Image 2: Acronis Editorial Team](https://staticfiles.acronis.com/images/content/d85707ae91461544212d39836dc32b42.png)](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/authors/acronis/ "Acronis Editorial Team") [Acronis Editorial Team](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/authors/acronis/) 3 min read Last updated 20 January 2026 **By Omry Farajun, President and CEO, Storage Guardian** Storage Guardian, in partnership with Acronis, has launched the [Incident Response Planner](https://solutions.acronis.com/en-us/integrations/storage-guardians-incident-response-planner-with-acronis-cyber-protect-cloud/) to help organizations meet CIS Control 17 – Incident Response Management. The solution uses out-of-band SMS communication and predefined response templates to rapidly engage key stakeholders, host a centralized incident response plan and execute validation drills and tabletop exercises with confidence. A recent enhancement introduces the ability to slice and segment the incident response plan by stakeholder role, delivering each participant only the information relevant to them — directly to their smart phone via SMS. This approach significantly improves clarity, coordination and engagement during tabletop exercises, resulting in a more organized, realistic and effective incident response simulation. ## Introduction into out-of-band strategy as a unique mechanism While many businesses understand the value of running tabletop exercises to simulate and practice incident response, a critical gap remains: overreliance on existing infrastructure that may be unavailable or unsafe during a real incident. In scenarios such as a zero-day attack or ransomware outage, organizations are often advised to disconnect desktops and internal systems to prevent lateral movement and further spread. At the same time, using compromised collaboration tools or email can enable threat actors to eavesdrop on internal discussions or ransom negotiations, severely weakening the organization’s negotiating position. Following the PICERL (six-step approach standing for Preparation, Identification, Containment, Eradication, Recovery and Lessons Learned) approach within the NIST 2.0 framework and CIS 17th control, organizations must be able to: * Isolate the affected environment. * Establish a secure, out-of-band war room. * Coordinate response efforts using communication channels unknown and inaccessible to the attacker. Effective tabletop exercises should therefore validate not only roles and procedures, but also the organization’s ability to operate when primary systems are unavailable, ensuring secure communication, decision making and coordination throughout the incident lifecycle. Storage Guardian has seen a vivid example within the distribution industry where a lack of effective communication planning led to significant frustration among partners once systems were taken offline. When everything was unplugged to contain the incident, the absence of a reliable out-of-band communication strategy exposed gaps in preparedness and hindered coordination at a critical moment. Often, incident response plans are stored on the same internal PCs or networks that become compromised during an attack. When this happens, access to the incident response plan is lost at the very moment it is needed most. In these situations, clear and decisive communication from C-level leadership becomes paramount. Extortion events and operational outages directly impact the brand, trust and credibility of the business, and executive leadership must be prepared to lead and communicate with intent during a crisis without any vendor pointing or blame. Another common gap which Storage Guardian observes is that incident response planning is often limited to MSPs, SOCs and NOCs, while CEOs and executive leadership are not fully incorporated into the plan. As a result, senior leaders may be unsure how or when to communicate or may underestimate the critical role they play during an incident. Effective incident response mirrors the execution of a war room during a national crisis: technical teams manage the battlefield, but executive leadership sets direction, communicates with authority and protects public confidence. Without executive participation and predefined communication strategies, organizations risk delayed decisions, inconsistent messaging and increased reputational damage at the moment leadership matters most. Using the [Acronis Cyber Platform (formerly Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud)](https://www.acronis.com/en/products/cloud/cyber-protect/) integration, Storage Guardian enables organizations to host their incident response plan out of band, completely separate from the production network and protected with MFA / one-time passcodes. This eliminates the scramble to locate spreadsheets or documents during a crisis. With an SMS-based approach, teams can: * Receive an incident declaration directly from the SOC. * Rapidly notify key stakeholders. * View only the roles and responsibilities relevant to them, rather than the entire document. This targeted, out-of-band delivery reduces confusion, accelerates decision making and counters the core objective of Ransomware to disorient and disrupt response efforts when clarity matters most. The [Incident Response Planner](https://solutions.acronis.com/en-us/integrations/storage-guardians-incident-response-planner-with-acronis-cyber-protect-cloud/) is free of charge in the [Acronis Ecosystem](https://solutions.acronis.com/en-us/), accelerating EDR adoption. Storage Guardian’s core service focuses on incident monitoring, clear SOW-defined roles and responsibilities and a forensic second set of eyes to alert you when something isn’t right such as open ports, unpatched systems, stolen credentials on the dark web, or SIM swap events that could compromise Acronis Cyber Platform (formerly Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud) backups in partnership with Ericson Telecommunication Company. Log in to your Acronis Cyber Platform (formerly Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud) console and enable the [Storage Guardian integration](https://solutions.acronis.com/en-us/integrations/storage-guardians-incident-response-planner-with-acronis-cyber-protect-cloud/) now, or contact Storage Guardian for a demo and onboarding support. ## Written by ![Image 3: Acronis Editorial Team](https://staticfiles.acronis.com/images/content/d85707ae91461544212d39836dc32b42.png) Acronis Editorial Team Acronis is a global cyber protection company that provides natively integrated cybersecurity, data protection, and endpoint management for managed service providers (MSPs), small and medium businesses (SMBs), and enterprise IT departments. [Previous post](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/posts/the-missing-piece-of-the-cia-triad-why-availability-matters/) [The missing piece of the CIA triad: Why ‘availability’ matters](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/posts/the-missing-piece-of-the-cia-triad-why-availability-matters/) [Next post](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/posts/why-the-traditional-msp-business-model-is-breaking-and-how-to-fix-it/) [Why the traditional MSP business model is breaking and how to fix it](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/posts/why-the-traditional-msp-business-model-is-breaking-and-how-to-fix-it/) About Acronis Acronis is a leader in AI-native cyber protection, unifying data protection, cybersecurity, IT operations and hybrid infrastructure to deliver business continuity, security and compliance with less cost and complexity. More than 21,000 service providers trust Acronis to protect over 750,000 businesses in 150 countries. Acronis is headquartered in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. [Add as a preferred source on Google](https://google.com/preferences/source?q=acronis.com) ## Related stories Want to learn more? Read the latest stories featuring this solution on our blog. [Acronis Blog](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/) ![Image 4: 10 new Acronis integrations helping MSP workflows run better](https://staticfiles.acronis.com/images/blog-card/fefedc01bffaaf168944f852f833ec10.png) [10 new Acronis integrations helping MSP workflows run better](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/posts/10-new-acronis-integrations-helping-msp-workflows-run-better/) In this blog, we highlight 10 recent additions to the Acronis Technology Ecosystem. From AI-powered automation and security insights to documentation, password management, remote support and lifecycle planning, these integrations help MSPs spend less time moving between systems and more time delivering value to clients. **October 15, 2026**5 min read ![Image 5: New IT Glue integration with Acronis automates documentation updates for MSPs](https://staticfiles.acronis.com/images/blog-card/748a5e18128d8321470c79150fd33682.png) [New IT Glue integration with Acronis automates documentation updates for MSPs](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/posts/new-it-glue-integration-with-acronis-automates-documentation-updates-for-msps/) The new Acronis integration with IT Glue addresses this problem by continuously synchronizing the device inventory from Acronis Cyber Platform to IT Glue, reducing manual work, improving documentation quality and giving technicians faster access to the information they need. **August 20, 2026**3 min read ![Image 6: Introducing Acronis Service Desk in Acronis Cyber Platform](https://staticfiles.acronis.com/images/blog-card/68a4f51f1ba38271735c04402b1e347e.png) [Introducing Acronis Service Desk in Acronis Cyber Platform](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/posts/introducing-ai-service-desk-in-acronis-cyber-platform/) MSPs need practical AI that helps technicians work more productively, make smarter decisions, move faster, reduce manual effort and resolve issues with better context. Acronis Service Desk, now available in EAP, helps MSPs consolidate Acronis alerts into clean, actionable tickets and gives technicians AI-powered insights to accelerate resolution. **July 26, 2026**6 min read