IR-4—Incident Handling
>Control Description
Implement an incident handling capability for incidents that is consistent with the incident response plan and includes preparation, detection and analysis, containment, eradication, and recovery;
Coordinate incident handling activities with contingency planning activities;
Incorporate lessons learned from ongoing incident handling activities into incident response procedures, training, and testing, and implement the resulting changes accordingly; and
Ensure the rigor, intensity, scope, and results of incident handling activities are comparable and predictable across the organization.
>FedRAMP Baseline Requirements
Additional Requirements and Guidance
IR-4 Requirement: The FISMA definition of "incident" shall be used: "An occurrence that actually or imminently jeopardizes, without lawful authority, the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of information or an information system; or constitutes a violation or imminent threat of violation of law, security policies, security procedures, or acceptable use policies." IR-4 Requirement: The service provider ensures that individuals conducting incident handling meet personnel security requirements commensurate with the criticality/sensitivity of the information being processed, stored, and transmitted by the information system.
>Discussion
Organizations recognize that incident response capabilities are dependent on the capabilities of organizational systems and the mission and business processes being supported by those systems. Organizations consider incident response as part of the definition, design, and development of mission and business processes and systems. Incident-related information can be obtained from a variety of sources, including audit monitoring, physical access monitoring, and network monitoring; user or administrator reports; and reported supply chain events.
An effective incident handling capability includes coordination among many organizational entities (e.g., mission or business owners, system owners, authorizing officials, human resources offices, physical security offices, personnel security offices, legal departments, risk executive [function], operations personnel, procurement offices). Suspected security incidents include the receipt of suspicious email communications that can contain malicious code. Suspected supply chain incidents include the insertion of counterfeit hardware or malicious code into organizational systems or system components.
For federal agencies, an incident that involves personally identifiable information is considered a breach. A breach results in unauthorized disclosure, the loss of control, unauthorized acquisition, compromise, or a similar occurrence where a person other than an authorized user accesses or potentially accesses personally identifiable information or an authorized user accesses or potentially accesses such information for other than authorized purposes.
>Cross-Framework Mappings
>Programmatic Queries
Related Services
CLI Commands
aws securityhub get-findings --filters '{"SeverityLabel":[{"Value":"CRITICAL","Comparison":"EQUALS"}]}'aws ssm-incidents list-response-plansaws ssm-incidents list-incident-recordsaws detective list-investigations --graph-arn ARN>Relevant Technologies
Technology-specific guidance with authoritative sources and verification commands.
>Assessment Interview Topics
Questions assessors commonly ask
Process & Governance:
- •What formal policies and procedures govern the implementation of IR-4 (Incident Handling)?
- •Who are the designated roles responsible for implementing, maintaining, and monitoring IR-4?
- •How frequently is the IR-4 policy reviewed and updated, and what triggers policy changes?
- •What governance structure ensures IR-4 requirements are consistently applied across all systems?
Technical Implementation:
- •Describe the specific technical mechanisms or controls used to enforce IR-4 requirements.
- •What automated tools, systems, or technologies are deployed to implement IR-4?
- •How is IR-4 integrated into your system architecture and overall security posture?
- •What configuration settings, parameters, or technical specifications enforce IR-4 requirements?
Evidence & Documentation:
- •What documentation demonstrates the complete implementation of IR-4?
- •What audit logs, records, reports, or monitoring data validate IR-4 compliance?
- •Can you provide evidence of periodic reviews, assessments, or testing of IR-4 effectiveness?
- •What artifacts would you present during a FedRAMP assessment to demonstrate IR-4 compliance?
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