SOC 2 CC7.5: Incident Recovery and Response

What this means

Incident recovery under CC7.5 means having documented procedures to identify security incidents when they occur, develop appropriate remediation strategies, and implement recovery actions to restore systems and data to normal operations. This control recognizes that incidents will happen; what matters is your ability to respond effectively and minimize damage.

How to comply

1. 1.Define and document what constitutes a security incident within your organization
2. 2.Establish incident identification procedures (detection methods, logging, monitoring alerts)
3. 3.Create an incident response plan with clear roles, responsibilities, and escalation paths
4. 4.Develop recovery procedures specific to your critical systems and data
5. 5.Implement communication protocols for internal teams and external stakeholders
6. 6.Conduct incident response training and tabletop exercises at least annually
7. 7.Log all incidents, responses, and outcomes in a centralized tracking system
8. 8.Perform post-incident reviews to identify improvement opportunities

Evidence auditors look for

• Incident response policy and procedures documentation
• Incident tracking logs with identification, response, and recovery timestamps
• Communication templates and notification records
• System recovery procedures and restoration playbooks
• Training records for incident response team members
• Post-incident review reports with lessons learned
• Evidence of incident drills or tabletop exercise participation

Frequently asked questions

GRCWatch automates incident tracking and recovery documentation, maintaining audit-ready logs of all incidents, responses, and recovery actions in one centralized system—eliminating manual spreadsheets and ensuring nothing falls through the cracks during recovery.

See how GRCWatch handles this control automatically

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