Incident Management Policy – Download Free Template

Security incidents are inevitable. That doesn’t mean businesses can’t minimize the impact of these incidents soundly. Companies must be ready to respond effectively to cyber incidents to restore critical business functions.

The best way to be fully prepared for incidents is by having a detailed incident management policy ready for reference. What exactly is this policy, and what’s included in this? This handy guide covers all the essential questions and contains a free incident management policy template. So, let’s dive right in!

What is an incident management policy?

An incident management policy, often referred to as an incident management plan, is a document that contains guidelines for the company to respond to security incidents, mitigate damage, and restore normal business functionality as soon as possible.

The policy helps in identifying the severity of the incident so that the relevant teams can follow the outlined steps for mitigating the incident. This is why it is essential to have an incident policy ready to respond effectively to incidents and minimize damage to the company’s reputation.

Also, in today’s complex IT environments, it is crucial to have a well-organized and laid-out mitigation plan ready to handle incidents in a standardized way.

If you are curious, we have created a sample Incident Management Policy template. You can download it below to get started.

What is the purpose of an incident management policy?

An incident management policy aims to respond and report to security incidents related to the company’s operations and information systems. The primary focus is to assess how the company’s security architecture responds to security threats. It also establishes procedures to identify, manage, and mitigate incidents in a timely manner.

Apart from the procedures, the incident response policy outlines the roles and responsibilities of every employee when an incident occurs. The policy will outline the steps for minimizing the impact and restoring normal business operations and functions quickly.

What does incident management policy include?

The incident management policy might differ from organization to organization. However, in general, it covers the following elements.

Scope

The policy defines the scope to understand its application in the company. This includes systems, assets, and users covered under the policy. For example, the scope generally covers all employees, clients, and third parties who have access to the company’s IT infrastructure and systems.

Response

The policy defines the different phases of the incident management process along with the detailed steps for each phase. The phases typically include incident identification and reporting, incident assessment and severity check, incident diagnosis, incident mitigation plus recovery, and post-incident analysis and documentation. All the steps have detailed guidelines to identify, manage, and mitigate incidents quickly.

Roles 

The incident policy defines the roles and responsibilities of different teams and individuals in managing and mitigating the incident efficiently. The responsibilities are generally divided into different departments, such as:

• Incident management team (for seamless management and timely resolution)
• Incident response and recovery team (for incident investigation, diagnosis, and mitigation)
• Communication team (for effective communication between internal and external stakeholders)
• Technical support team (for providing technical assistance to different teams).

Training and Awareness

The policy includes provisions for conducting training sessions and awareness classes. All the employees and stakeholders need to be trained regarding the incident management processes and should be on the same page for effective mitigation.

Contact details

The policy includes the contact information such as phone numbers and email addresses of different teams such as IMT, technical support, and more. The contact details of any third-party compliance authorities might also be present in case of significant breaches.

Closing thoughts

Having an incident management policy is crucial to effectively and timely mitigate severe incidents before they cause more damage to your organization’s reputation. Using this sample template as a base, you can edit and customize the policies as per your organization’s security posture and requirements.

Want to learn more about how to draft your incident management policy? Our compliance experts have all the answers. Let’s show you how to set up an effective incident management plan and stay compliant. Learn more here.

FAQs

1. What are the five key areas of incident management?

The five key areas of incident management are identification, reporting, mitigation, recovery, and documentation.

2. Is it important to draft an incident management policy?

Yes, it is important to draft an incident policy as it serves as the guideline to manage different security incidents in an efficient and timely manner.

3. Is an incident response policy required for SOC2 compliance?

Yes, SOC 2 requires all compliant organizations to create a proper incident management and response policy. It is a must for organizations to be ready with a solid incident response plan.