ISO 27001 Control 5.26: Response to Information Security Incidents

What this means

This control mandates that your organization develop and document formal procedures for responding to information security incidents. These procedures must address three critical phases: containment (stopping the incident from spreading), eradication (removing the threat), and recovery (restoring systems to normal operation). The procedures should be clear enough that any team member can follow them during an incident when stress is high and decisions must be fast.

How to comply

1. 1.Document incident response procedures that define roles, responsibilities, and escalation paths
2. 2.Define severity levels and response times based on incident classification
3. 3.Establish containment strategies to isolate affected systems and prevent spread
4. 4.Create eradication procedures to identify and remove the root cause
5. 5.Develop recovery and restoration steps to return systems to normal operation
6. 6.Test procedures quarterly through tabletop exercises or simulated incidents
7. 7.Maintain an incident log with details on detection, response, resolution, and lessons learned
8. 8.Assign an incident response coordinator and define their authority to act

Evidence auditors look for

• Incident response policy and documented procedures
• Incident severity classification matrix
• Contact list for incident response team members
• Incident response playbooks for common attack types
• Records of incident response drills and simulations
• Completed incident logs with timeline and actions taken
• Post-incident review reports documenting root cause and improvements
• Communication templates for internal and external incident notifications

Frequently asked questions

GRCWatch automates incident procedure documentation, tracks response timelines, and generates compliance-ready incident reports—eliminating manual log management so your team focuses on resolution.

See how GRCWatch handles this control automatically