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AI Incident Response Playbook

Status: January 2026 - FSI-AgentGov v1.2 Related Controls: 3.4 (Incident Reporting), 1.21 (Adversarial Input), 3.10 (Hallucination Feedback)


Purpose

This playbook provides structured response procedures for AI agent-specific incidents in financial services environments. It extends general incident response with AI-specific categories, evidence collection requirements, and regulatory notification triggers.


Incident Categories

Category 1: Hallucination / Data Quality

Description: Agent provides factually incorrect, fabricated, or misleading information.

Severity Triggers:

Severity Criteria Example
Critical Financial advice error; customer harm likely Wrong interest rate affecting loan decision
High Significant misinformation; potential customer impact Incorrect product features
Medium Minor inaccuracy; limited impact Typo in general information
Low Cosmetic issue Formatting or style issues

Response Procedure:

T+0:00 - Incident Detected
├── Capture conversation and response
├── Classify severity using criteria above
├── If Critical/High: Notify AI Governance Lead immediately
└── If customer-facing: Consider temporary agent suspension

T+0:15 - Initial Assessment
├── Identify affected users
├── Determine source of incorrect information
├── Check if issue is systemic (multiple users) or isolated
└── Document findings

T+1:00 - Containment
├── If systemic: Disable agent or problematic feature
├── If isolated: Flag user session for follow-up
├── Prepare customer communication (if needed)
└── Notify compliance if regulatory impact

T+4:00 - Investigation
├── Review knowledge sources (per Control 2.16)
├── Check citation logging (per Control 3.4)
├── Analyze prompt configuration
├── Determine root cause

T+24:00 - Remediation
├── Update knowledge source if needed
├── Modify agent configuration
├── Test fix in non-production
├── Deploy fix with change control

T+48:00 - Verification
├── Monitor for recurrence
├── Verify fix effectiveness
├── Close incident with documentation
└── Schedule post-incident review

Evidence to Collect:

  • Full conversation transcript
  • Agent configuration at time of incident
  • Knowledge sources cited
  • User information (anonymized if needed)
  • Timestamp and session details
  • Screenshots of incorrect output

Category 2: Prompt Injection / Adversarial Attack

Description: Attempted or successful manipulation of agent behavior through malicious inputs.

Severity Triggers:

Severity Criteria Example
Critical Successful jailbreak; safety bypass achieved Agent disclosed restricted information
High Partial bypass; suspicious behavior observed Agent acknowledged injection attempt
Medium Detected attempt; no bypass Blocked injection logged
Low False positive; legitimate use Business term triggered detection

Response Procedure:

T+0:00 - Detection Alert
├── Review detection details from Control 1.21
├── Classify as successful attack vs. blocked attempt
├── If successful: IMMEDIATELY escalate to Security Operations
└── Preserve all evidence

T+0:05 - Immediate Containment (if successful)
├── Suspend user session (if identifiable)
├── Consider agent suspension for Zone 3
├── Engage Security Operations Center
└── Do NOT delete evidence

T+0:30 - Security Assessment
├── Determine scope of compromise
├── Identify data accessed or disclosed
├── Check for lateral movement indicators
├── Assess regulatory notification requirements

T+1:00 - Notification
├── If data breach: Engage legal and compliance
├── Notify CISO/CCO per escalation matrix
├── Prepare regulatory notification if required
└── Document all notifications

T+24:00 - Forensic Investigation
├── Collect all audit logs
├── Analyze attack pattern
├── Check for similar attempts across agents
├── Determine if attack was targeted

T+48:00+ - Remediation
├── Update detection patterns
├── Strengthen agent guardrails
├── Implement additional controls
├── Conduct red team exercise to validate

Evidence to Collect:

  • Full attack input/output
  • Audit logs surrounding incident
  • User identity information
  • IP address and session details
  • Detection alert details
  • Agent configuration
  • Any data accessed or disclosed

Category 3: Data Leakage / Privacy Breach

Description: Agent disclosed sensitive information inappropriately.

Severity Triggers:

Severity Criteria Example
Critical Customer PII/NPI exposed to unauthorized party Another customer's account details shown
High Internal confidential data disclosed Employee information visible
Medium Potentially sensitive data; limited exposure Internal URL exposed
Low Minor disclosure; no sensitive data System metadata visible

Response Procedure:

T+0:00 - Detection
├── Identify what data was exposed
├── Determine who received the data
├── If customer data: CRITICAL - immediate escalation
└── Preserve evidence immediately

T+0:05 - Containment
├── Suspend agent immediately
├── Revoke access to knowledge sources
├── Block additional queries to affected areas
└── Notify Privacy Officer

T+0:30 - Scope Assessment
├── Identify all affected individuals
├── Determine data elements exposed
├── Assess regulatory notification triggers
├── Check for ongoing exposure

T+2:00 - Regulatory Assessment
├── GLBA notification requirements (varies by regulator)
├── State breach notification laws
├── FINRA/SEC notification if applicable
├── Document assessment and decisions

T+24:00 - Notification Preparation
├── Prepare affected individual notifications
├── Draft regulatory notifications
├── Coordinate with legal counsel
├── Obtain compliance approval

T+72:00 - Notifications (if required)
├── Send customer notifications
├── File regulatory notifications
├── Document all notifications
└── Begin remediation

Ongoing - Remediation
├── Fix root cause
├── Implement additional controls
├── Conduct post-incident review
├── Update procedures as needed

Evidence to Collect:

  • Exact data elements disclosed
  • Recipient information
  • Full conversation context
  • Knowledge source configuration
  • Access control settings
  • DLP policy configuration at time

Category 4: Bias / Fairness Violation

Description: Agent demonstrated discriminatory behavior or unfair recommendations.

Severity Triggers:

Severity Criteria Example
Critical Clear discriminatory outcome; regulatory violation Loan denial based on protected class
High Potential bias pattern; investigation needed Recommendation disparity observed
Medium Isolated concern; may be coincidental Single user complaint of unfairness
Low Edge case; likely not bias Unusual recommendation with clear rationale

Response Procedure:

T+0:00 - Report Received
├── Document specific concern
├── Gather relevant interactions
├── Classify initial severity
└── Notify AI Governance Lead

T+4:00 - Statistical Analysis
├── Analyze recommendation patterns
├── Compare outcomes across demographic groups
├── Review conflict of interest test results (Control 2.18)
└── Engage Model Risk Management

T+24:00 - Compliance Assessment
├── Evaluate against fair lending requirements
├── Check for Reg BI compliance
├── Review FINRA Rule 3110 (Supervision) requirements
└── Document findings

If bias confirmed:
├── T+48:00 - Suspend affected functionality
├── T+72:00 - Conduct comprehensive bias audit
├── T+1 week - Remediate and validate
└── T+2 weeks - Implement ongoing monitoring

If bias not confirmed:
├── Document analysis methodology
├── Archive evidence
├── Consider enhanced monitoring
└── Close incident

Evidence to Collect:

  • Interactions exhibiting potential bias
  • Statistical analysis of outcomes
  • Agent configuration and prompts
  • Training data characteristics (if applicable)
  • Comparison population data
  • Previous bias test results

Regulatory Notification Requirements

Notification Triggers

Regulation Trigger Timeline Recipient
GLBA 501(b) Customer NPI breach Varies by regulator; map applicable requirements Primary regulator, affected customers
State Breach Laws PII exposure Varies (24-72 hours) State AG, affected individuals
FINRA 4530 Significant security incident Prompt FINRA
SEC Reg S-P (2024) Customer information breach ≤30 days after awareness Affected customers
OCC Significant incident (banks) Prompt Primary regulator

Notification Decision Matrix

Is customer data involved?
├── No → Document internally only (unless material)
└── Yes → Was it exposed to unauthorized party?
    ├── No → Document, monitor, no notification required
    └── Yes → Notification likely required
        ├── How many affected?
        │   ├── <500 → State laws only (typically)
        │   └── >=500 → State + federal notification
        └── What data types?
            ├── Financial account info → GLBA applies
            ├── PII only → State breach laws
            └── Both → Most stringent requirements apply

Escalation Matrix

Severity Initial Response Escalation Path SLA
Critical SOC + AI Governance → CISO → CCO → CEO 15 min
High AI Governance Lead → Director → VP 1 hour
Medium On-call analyst → Manager → AI Governance 4 hours
Low Standard queue → Team Lead 24 hours

Post-Incident Requirements

Incident Review Checklist

# AI Incident Post-Incident Review

## Incident Summary
- **Incident ID:** [ID]
- **Category:** [Category]
- **Severity:** [Level]
- **Duration:** [Start to Close]
- **Affected Users:** [Count]

## Timeline Review
- Detection time: [How long to detect]
- Response time: [How long to respond]
- Resolution time: [How long to fix]
- Total duration: [End-to-end]

## Root Cause Analysis
- Primary cause: [Description]
- Contributing factors: [List]
- Prevention gaps: [What failed]

## Lessons Learned
1. [Lesson 1]
2. [Lesson 2]

## Action Items
| Action | Owner | Due Date | Status |
|--------|-------|----------|--------|
| [Action] | [Name] | [Date] | [Status] |

## Process Improvements
- [ ] Update playbook
- [ ] Enhance detection
- [ ] Improve training
- [ ] Modify controls

## Sign-off
- Incident Manager: _______ Date: _____
- AI Governance Lead: _______ Date: _____
- Compliance (if regulatory): _______ Date: _____

Documentation Retention

Document Type Retention Period Storage Location
Incident report 7 years Compliance archive
Evidence package 7 years Secure storage
Notification records 7 years Legal hold
Post-incident review 7 years Governance repository

Integration with Framework Controls

Control Integration Point
1.7 Audit Logging Evidence source
1.21 Adversarial Input Attack detection
3.4 Incident Reporting Workflow integration
3.10 Hallucination Feedback Quality incident source

FSI Agent Governance Framework v1.2.51 - February 2026