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Control 3.4: Incident Reporting and Root Cause Analysis - Verification & Testing

This playbook provides verification and testing procedures for Control 3.4.

Verification Steps

1. Incident Reporting Flow

  • Submit test incident through intake form
  • Verify notifications trigger correctly
  • Confirm assignment to investigator

2. SLA Monitoring

  • Create test incidents at each severity level
  • Verify SLA timers activate
  • Confirm escalation triggers at breach

3. RCA Process

  • Complete sample RCA document
  • Verify approval workflow
  • Confirm archive to permanent storage

4. Metrics Dashboard

  • Review incident metrics
  • Verify calculations are accurate
  • Test drill-down to individual incidents

Compliance Checklist

Item Required For Status
Incident tracking system operational All regulations
SLA monitoring configured FFIEC, SOX 404
RCA template approved Internal governance
Escalation matrix documented All regulations
Regulatory notification thresholds defined GLBA, State laws
Incident records retained 6+ years SEC 17a-4
Weekly incident review meetings Best practice

Test Cases

Test Case 1: Critical Incident Escalation

Objective: Verify critical incidents escalate immediately

Steps:

  1. Report incident with Severity = Critical
  2. Verify CISO/CCO notification within 15 minutes
  3. Confirm Teams notification to Security-Ops channel
  4. Check Sentinel incident creation (if integrated)

Expected Result: All notifications sent within SLA

Test Case 2: SLA Breach Alert

Objective: Verify overdue incidents trigger alerts

Steps:

  1. Create High severity incident
  2. Leave unresolved for >1 hour
  3. Verify escalation email sent
  4. Confirm status updated to "Escalated"

Expected Result: Automatic escalation at SLA breach

Test Case 3: Incident Closure Validation

Objective: Verify closure requires RCA completion

Steps:

  1. Attempt to close incident without Root Cause
  2. Verify validation error
  3. Complete Root Cause and Corrective Actions
  4. Successfully close incident

Expected Result: Closure blocked until required fields complete

Test Case 4: SEC Regulation S-P Notification

Objective: Verify 30-day customer notification workflow

Steps:

  1. Report incident with customer data exposure
  2. Mark Regulatory Impact = Yes
  3. Verify incident queued for compliance review
  4. Confirm notification countdown started

Expected Result: Workflow tracks 30-day notification deadline

Evidence Collection

For regulatory examinations, collect:

  • Incident log export (last 12 months)
  • SLA compliance report
  • Sample RCA documents
  • Escalation matrix documentation
  • Regulatory notification records

Next Steps

Updated: January 2026 | Version: v1.2