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Incident Response and Reporting Policy

Policy Status: Active

This policy is currently active.

Purpose

To provide a structured response to IT security incidents, mitigating impact and ensuring quick recovery while maintaining business continuity and protecting sensitive data.

Scope

This policy applies to all incidents affecting Acme Corp's IT systems, data, applications, and infrastructure, including security breaches, data loss, system outages, and malware infections.

Policy Statement

Incident Classification

Security incidents are categorized by severity based on impact to systems, data, and operations:

  • Critical (P1): Major data breach, ransomware, complete system outage, PHI exposure
  • High (P2): Significant security vulnerability, partial data loss, major service degradation
  • Medium (P3): Minor security incident, limited data exposure, isolated system issue
  • Low (P4): Suspected incident, policy violation, potential vulnerability

Reporting Requirements

All employees must report suspected security incidents immediately to the IT team via: - Email: security@acmecorp.com - Phone: IT Helpdesk - Internal incident reporting system

Reporting must occur within: - Critical incidents: Immediate (within 15 minutes) - High incidents: Within 1 hour - Medium/Low incidents: Within 4 hours

Response Protocols

Detection and Analysis

  • IT team investigates reported incident
  • Determines scope, severity, and impact
  • Documents initial findings
  • Escalates to appropriate stakeholders

Containment

  • Immediate measures taken to limit damage
  • Isolate affected systems if necessary
  • Prevent lateral movement or further compromise
  • Preserve evidence for forensic analysis

Eradication

  • Identify and remove root cause of incident
  • Patch vulnerabilities
  • Remove malware or unauthorized access
  • Verify threats are eliminated

Recovery

  • Restore systems to normal operation
  • Verify system integrity
  • Monitor for recurrence
  • Resume business operations

Post-Incident Review

  • Conduct lessons learned session within 1 week
  • Document timeline, actions, and outcomes
  • Identify improvements to prevention and response
  • Update incident response procedures as needed

Roles and Responsibilities

Role Responsibility
All Employees Report suspected incidents immediately, cooperate with investigations, preserve evidence
IT Security Team Coordinate and manage incident response, lead investigations, implement containment
IT Team Support incident response, restore systems, implement fixes
Management Approve response actions, manage communications, allocate resources
Legal/Compliance Assess regulatory reporting requirements, manage legal implications
Communications Team Handle internal/external communications for major incidents

Procedures

1. Incident Detection

  1. Automated monitoring alerts
  2. User reports
  3. Security tool notifications

  4. External notifications (vendors, partners)

  5. Initial Response (within 30 minutes):

  6. Log incident in tracking system
  7. Assign severity level
  8. Notify incident response team
  9. Begin initial assessment

2. Investigation

  1. Collect relevant logs and evidence
  2. Interview affected users
  3. Analyze attack vectors or failure points
  4. Document findings in incident report

3. Containment Actions

  1. Disable compromised accounts
  2. Block malicious IPs/domains
  3. Isolate affected systems
  4. Implement emergency patches

4. Recovery Process

  1. Restore from clean backups if needed
  2. Rebuild compromised systems
  3. Reset credentials
  4. Verify system security before production

5. Communication

  1. Update stakeholders at regular intervals
  2. Notify affected users if personal data involved
  3. File regulatory reports if required (within legal timeframes)
  4. Document all communications

6. Post-Incident Activities

  1. Complete final incident report
  2. Update security controls
  3. Conduct team debrief
  4. Track remediation items to completion

Exceptions

  • Time-sensitive business operations may require modified containment strategies
  • Executive approval required for exceptions to containment procedures
  • All exceptions must be documented with justification and compensating controls

Compliance and Enforcement

  • Incident Reporting Metrics: Track time to report, time to contain, time to resolve
  • Response Testing: Conduct incident response drills quarterly
  • Regulatory Compliance: Follow breach notification requirements (HIPAA: 60 days, state laws vary)
  • Failure to Report: Employees who fail to report incidents promptly may face disciplinary action
  • Documentation: All incidents must be documented in incident management system
  • Review Cycle: Post-incident reviews required for all P1 and P2 incidents

References

  • NIST SP 800-61 Rev. 2: Computer Security Incident Handling Guide
  • HIPAA Breach Notification Rule (45 CFR ยงยง 164.400-414)
  • SOC 2 Trust Service Criteria - Security Incidents
  • Incident Response Playbooks (internal documentation)

Revision History

Version Date Author Changes
1.0 2025-11-08 IT Security Team Initial version migrated from Notion

Document Control - Classification: Internal/Confidential - Distribution: All employees, incident response team - Storage: GitHub repository - policy-repository