What IRC is for
The Incident Response Consortium exists to bring the people who work an incident, the boards who govern incident readiness, and the IR firms building the practice into the same community of practice. We share what we know, run the events we wish existed, and write the resources we wish we'd had on day one.
That sounds simple. It is also the thing the IR industry has never quite managed to do at scale. There are conferences, vendor user groups, professional bodies, and closed peer circles. There is not yet a credible global community where a Chair of a FTSE 250, a SOC lead at a regional bank, and a forensics partner at a mid-market IR firm can all show up and find something useful.
IRC is the attempt at that community.
Where it came from
IRC was founded in 2017 in the United States, focused on the practitioner layer. It ran the IR19 conference, published an open source playbook engine, curated a books and frameworks library, and built a small, active community around incident response best practice. The first iteration went dormant. The domain, the library, the audience, and the gear all stayed.
In 2024 a relaunch was announced. In 2026 the relaunch actually happens, this time with a global scope and a clearer structure.
What changed
Three things.
Global, not US. The original IRC was a US community. The relaunch is global, with the first regional Boardroom Forum running in the UK and others to follow.
Boards as well as practitioners. The original IRC was for responders. The relaunch adds the Boardroom Forum for NEDs and Chairs, because IR is increasingly a board-level concern that boards rarely have the right peers to talk to.
Operated openly. IRC is now operated by Outbreach, an IR firm, with a small founding partners group. The relationship is disclosed in full, including the funding model and the editorial firewall between partners and the Resources library.
The four areas of work
From 2026 IRC organises around four drivers:
- Forums. Three peer communities: Boardroom, Practitioner, Partners Forum.
- Events. Monthly community calls, regional breakfasts, occasional offsites.
- Resources. The existing Playbook Policy Engine, books, links and job board, plus new member-authored Practitioner Runbooks.
- Training. Learning paths for analysts at different career stages, mentor matching, and recorded webinars to come.
Forums and Events are live now. Resources is live and expanding. Training is live with learning paths and mentor matching; the webinar library follows later in 2026.
How IRC is run
IRC is operated by Outbreach with a founding partners group. The day to day is run by a small team. The Editorial Committee, once seated, curates the Resources library independent of operating decisions. The founding partners contribute resources, time and funding, and do not get editorial control. The full disclosure lives on the Partners disclosure page.
The Board of Directors
The Board of Directors carried over from the original US-era IRC into the 2026 relaunch.
The Advisory Board is open for applications from senior practitioners interested in shaping IRC's direction. Email hello@incidentresponse.com to apply.
Original founders
The original IRC was founded in 2017. Recognition stays with the founders whose vision shaped the first iteration of the community.
The 2024 relaunch announcement explicitly thanked Joe and Ryan for their vision in creating the community and leading the way with conferences that were interesting, valuable and targeted to the things practitioners want. That gratitude carries into the 2026 relaunch.
What it is not
IRC is not a certification body. It is not a vendor marketing platform. It is not a paid analyst service. It is not a recruitment company. If any of those things would be useful to you, this is not the right community.
What's next
Boardroom Forum invitations open this summer. The first breakfast is targeted for Q4 2026. The Practitioner Forum is open now for applications. Partners Forum conversations are happening with founding partners. The Resources library carries the existing IRC content, now including the first Practitioner Runbooks, with more added through the year. Training learning paths and mentor matching are live now, with the webinar library to follow.
If any of this sounds like your community, the open membership tier is free and the application form for Practitioner Member opens in under a minute.