CIS Control 17.4: Establish and Maintain an Incident Response Process

What this means

This control requires organizations to create and maintain a formal incident response process that covers three core elements: clear role assignments and accountability, integration of relevant compliance requirements, and a structured communication plan for stakeholders. The process must be reviewed annually or whenever significant changes occur in the enterprise that could affect incident response capabilities or compliance obligations.

How to comply

1. 1.Document incident response roles and assign clear ownership (incident commander, communications lead, technical lead, legal/compliance liaison)
2. 2.Define compliance requirements relevant to your industry and integrate them into your incident response procedures (e.g., HIPAA breach notification, GDPR timelines)
3. 3.Establish a communication plan identifying internal and external notification channels, escalation paths, and stakeholder contact lists
4. 4.Create incident classification criteria to determine severity levels and required actions
5. 5.Define incident response phases: preparation, detection, containment, eradication, recovery, and post-incident review
6. 6.Document timelines and SLAs for detection, initial response, and stakeholder notification
7. 7.Conduct annual reviews of the incident response process and update following any significant organizational changes
8. 8.Test the process through tabletop exercises or simulations at least annually

Evidence auditors look for

• Incident Response Plan document with roles, responsibilities, and contact information
• Compliance requirements matrix mapped to incident response procedures
• Communication templates and notification trees for various incident scenarios
• Incident severity classification matrix with escalation triggers
• Records of annual incident response plan reviews with dated approval
• Training records showing team members understand their assigned roles
• Incident response simulation or tabletop exercise documentation
• Change log showing updates to the process following organizational changes

Frequently asked questions

GRCWatch automates incident response process tracking with built-in annual review reminders, change documentation to flag when organizational updates require plan revisions, and a centralized repository for roles, compliance requirements, and communication contacts—so your team always has current documentation ready.

See how GRCWatch handles this control automatically

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