Nearly every compliance framework and cyber-insurance policy requires an incident response plan - and for good reason: it's the difference between a contained event and a catastrophe. But a plan in a binder that's never been tested is exactly what fails when an incident hits. Here's what a real one needs.
Book a 15-minute review →What it must contain: defined roles and responsibilities, clear severity levels, detection and analysis procedures, containment and eradication steps, recovery procedures, and post-incident review. Critically, it also needs the notification timelines your obligations impose - like DFARS 252.204-7012's 72-hour reporting or HIPAA breach notification.
Why every framework requires one: CMMC/NIST 800-171 has an Incident Response control family; HIPAA requires incident procedures; SOC 2 tests incident response as a control; NYDFS and the FTC Safeguards Rule mandate it; and cyber insurers now expect it. It's the most universally required control there is.
Why plans fail: they're written once, never tested, and reference people who've left and systems that have changed. When an incident hits, the team improvises - which is when reporting deadlines get missed and containment falters. A plan is only as good as the detection feeding it and the practice behind it.
MDRwatchdog makes the plan operational: continuous monitoring provides the detection that triggers it, produces the incident timelines your frameworks require, and gives you the evidence a 72-hour report or breach notification demands - so the plan works under pressure, not just on paper. Readiness and evidence, not legal advice.
Defined roles, severity levels, detection and analysis, containment and eradication, recovery, post-incident review, and the notification timelines your obligations require (like DFARS 72-hour reporting or HIPAA breach notification).
Nearly all: CMMC/NIST 800-171, HIPAA, SOC 2, NYDFS, and the FTC Safeguards Rule all require one, and cyber insurers expect it. It's the most universally required control.
Because they're written once and never tested - referencing departed staff and changed systems. Without detection feeding it and practice behind it, teams improvise and miss reporting deadlines.
MDRwatchdog provides security monitoring and compliance evidence to support readiness. It is not a certification and not legal advice. Certification and formal audits are performed by the appropriate authorized bodies (a C3PAO for CMMC, a licensed CPA firm for SOC 2, an accredited body for ISO 27001).