Incident Response & Breach Notification
Organization: {{COMPANY_LEGAL_NAME}} Document owner: {{POLICY_OWNER_ROLE}} Approved by: {{APPROVER_NAME}}, {{APPROVER_TITLE}} Version: {{VERSION}} · Effective: {{EFFECTIVE_DATE}} · Next review: {{REVIEW_DATE}} Classification: Internal
1. Purpose
This policy makes sure security and privacy incidents at {{COMPANY_LEGAL_NAME}} are found, contained, reported, and resolved quickly, and that any required notifications go out on time and through the right people.
2. Scope
This policy covers all information assets, personnel, third-party services, and physical locations, including systems in {{CRITICAL_SYSTEMS}} and records held across {{GEO_SCOPE}}.
3. Policy statements
3.1 Detection and reporting
Security tooling forwards alerts to a dedicated incident channel in real time. Anyone who notices suspicious activity reports it to the security team promptly, and every alert or report is logged in the incident tracker with a timestamp.
3.2 Response team and roles
Each incident has an Incident Commander, a Technical Lead, a Communications Lead, and a Scribe, backed by a published roster with around-the-clock contacts. We keep runbooks for common scenarios such as malware, data breach, denial-of-service, and cloud compromise.
3.3 Containment and eradication
We isolate affected systems quickly once an incident is confirmed, capture forensic evidence where feasible, and patch, clean, or rebuild before anything is reconnected. Actions and timestamps are documented in the tracker.
3.4 Breach notification and communications
Management is notified immediately for incidents involving personal or regulated data. Customer and regulator notices are drafted within the applicable legal timeframes, and all external statements are routed through the Communications Lead and legal counsel before they go out.
3.5 Post-incident review
We hold a root-cause review shortly after each significant incident and record corrective actions, owners, and due dates. Those actions are tracked to closure, and confirmed improvements are folded back into our controls.
3.6 Measurement
We track how long it takes to detect and to contain incidents, along with whether notification deadlines were met, and review these figures regularly. Process deviations are acceptable only when needed to protect life, safety, or critical systems, and are documented afterward.
4. Roles and responsibilities
| Role | Responsibility |
|---|---|
| Executive sponsor | Accountable for the program; approves this policy |
| {{POLICY_OWNER_ROLE}} | Maintains this policy and its procedures |
| Managers | Enforce the policy within their teams |
| All personnel | Comply; report issues promptly |
5. Compliance and exceptions
Unreported or mishandled incidents escalate to executive review and may result in disciplinary action. Exceptions require documented risk acceptance by {{APPROVER_TITLE}} and are time-limited and reviewed.
6. Review
This policy is reviewed at least annually and when significant change occurs.
Aligned to ISO/IEC 27001:2022.