# NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 3 3.6.5 — Incident Response Plan - Source: https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-171-rev-3/3-6-5-incident-response-plan - Section: [Compliance](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance) › [NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 3 Requirements](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-171-rev-3) › Incident Response — §3.6 - Last updated: 2026-06-05 - Publisher: iCompaas, Inc. (https://www.icompaas.com) **NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 3**·Requirement `3.6.5`·critical·Component: **Incident Response** ## What this control requires > This control requires the development of a comprehensive incident response plan that outlines the organization's approach to incident response, including its structure, reportable incidents, sharing of incident information, and assigned responsibilities. The plan must be distributed to designated personnel, updated regularly, and protected from unauthorized disclosure to ensure effective incident management. This control supports the Incident Response Management capability within the Incident Response (3.6) family. > > — NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 3, Requirement 3.6.5 ### In plain English This control requires the development of a comprehensive incident response plan that outlines the organization's approach to incident response, including its structure, reportable incidents, sharing of incident information, and assigned responsibilities. In practice, this means you can prove you information management-level controls on a defined cadence. ## Why it matters DoD contractors and their subcontractors must implement all 100 SP 800-171 requirements to keep CUI handling contracts. Gaps are scored against the SPRS scoring methodology; below a 110-point starting score, each unmet requirement deducts points and a below-threshold score can disqualify a bid. This control is rated **critical** in the source catalogue. Treat gaps here as production incidents in the risk register, not housekeeping. ## What an auditor looks for A C3PAO conducting a CMMC Level 2 assessment uses NIST SP 800-171A objectives. They expect a System Security Plan (SSP), Plan of Action & Milestones (POA&M) for any gaps, and objective evidence (configurations, ticket records, training records) for every requirement. Within **Incident Response**, the assessor will trace your implementation back to the catalogue reference (Requirement 3.6.5) and look for objective evidence on the latest two assessment cycles. ## How to implement #### Incident Response **Runbook.** Maintain a runbook keyed by incident type with named roles (IC, comms, scribe), an out-of-band comms channel, and a 72-hour timeline for external notification. **Tabletop.** Run a quarterly tabletop exercise (ransomware, insider, supply-chain) and feed gaps back into the runbook. #### Secure Development **Pipeline.** Require code review, SAST (Semgrep / Snyk Code), SCA (Dependabot / Renovate), secret-scanning and IaC scanning in the merge pipeline. **Branch protection.** Protected branches enforce reviews, signed commits and passing CI before merge; document the protection rules as the control evidence. ### Operational checklist - **Information.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Response.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Incident.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Personnel.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Plan.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Scope:** management, response plan, structure, reportable incidents, personnel, development. ## Evidence to collect - **Ticketing Workflow.** `ticketing_workflow` evidence - **Infra Scan.** Continuous infrastructure-posture telemetry — AWS Config, Azure Policy compliance, GCP Organisation Policy, Wiz / Prisma findings. Workflow metrics (ServiceNow, Jira) show approvals and remediation. Focus: Incident Response Plan. ## Common pitfalls - Runbooks that name a role but no person, or list a paging channel that no longer exists. - CI security checks set to warn-only; the merge button is faster than the security feedback. ## How it maps to other frameworks Computed from shared tags, control component and key-operation subjects — handy when you are reconciling controls across an audit. - [**NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 IR-6** — Incident Reporting](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/ir-6-incident-reporting) - [**SOC 2 (2017 TSC) CC7.4** — Incident Response](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/soc-2-trust-services-criteria/cc7-4-incident-response) - [**ISO/IEC 27001:2022 A.5.27** — Learning from information security incidents](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-27001-2022/a-5-27-learning-from-information-security-incidents) - [**BSI C5:2020 SIM-03** — Documentation and reporting of security incidents](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/bsi-c5-2020/sim-03-documentation-and-reporting-of-security-incidents) - [**ISO/IEC 27701:2025 A.3.12** — Response to incidents](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-27701-2025/a-3-12-response-to-incidents) ## Related controls in NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 3 - [**Requirement 3.6.2** — Incident Monitoring, Reporting, and Response Assistance](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-171-rev-3/3-6-2-incident-monitoring-reporting-and-response-assistance) - [**Requirement 3.6.4** — Incident Response Training](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-171-rev-3/3-6-4-incident-response-training) - [**Requirement 3.6.1** — Incident Handling](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-171-rev-3/3-6-1-incident-handling) - [**Requirement 3.3.6** — Audit Record Reduction and Report Generation](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-171-rev-3/3-3-6-audit-record-reduction-and-report-generation) ## References - [NIST Computer Security Resource Center — NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 3](https://csrc.nist.gov/pubs/sp/800/171/r3/final) - Catalogue identifier: `Requirement 3.6.5` Topics: incident responsechange managementsecure development ## Related compliance guidance - [NIST SP 800-171 and CMMC: a practical guide to protecting CUI in the cloud](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-171-rev-3): Start with the full NIST SP 800-171 implementation guide — scope, roadmap, evidence and how the assessment runs. - [NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5: a practical implementation guide for cloud teams](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5): The catalogue 800-171 is tailored from, and the basis of the FedRAMP Moderate baseline your cloud providers must meet for CUI. - [ISO/IEC 27001:2022 compliance: a practical implementation guide](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-27001-2022): If commercial customers ask for a certificate as well, most 800-171 controls can be evidenced once and mapped to Annex A.