Control statement
- a.Require personnel to report suspected incidents to the organizational incident response capability within [Organization-defined: time period] ; and
- b.Report incident information to [Organization-defined: authorities].
Discussion
The types of incidents reported, the content and timeliness of the reports, and the designated reporting authorities reflect applicable laws, executive orders, directives, regulations, policies, standards, and guidelines. Incident information can inform risk assessments, control effectiveness assessments, security requirements for acquisitions, and selection criteria for technology products.
Organization-defined parameters
These values must be resolved through the organization’s tailoring and governance process. Bracketed parameter references in the control text identify where a decision is required.
From control text to operational evidence
Use Incident Reporting as a testable risk decision. Translate the official statement into accountable people, repeatable processes, configured technology, and evidence that demonstrates the outcome over time. In this family, pay particular attention to prepared detection, coordinated response, analysis, reporting, and lessons learned.
Implementation workflow
- Define the control boundary, responsible owner, inherited portions, and systems or processes in scope.
- Resolve each organization-defined parameter before declaring the control implemented.
- Document how the implementation satisfies every clause of the official control statement.
- Collect evidence as a normal byproduct of operation rather than only before an assessment.
- Review exceptions, changes, and monitoring results on a risk-based cadence.
Evidence examples
- incident response plans and playbooks
- case records and timelines
- exercise and tabletop results
- lessons-learned and corrective-action tracking
Common failure patterns
- plans that do not match current architecture
- unclear authority for containment decisions
- evidence lost during response
- lessons learned recorded but not implemented
Questions practitioners should ask
- What risk decision is this control intended to support in this system?
- Which parts are implemented locally, inherited, shared, or not applicable—and what evidence supports that decision?
- Do the documented narrative, deployed configuration, operating process, and collected evidence agree?
- What event or threshold requires the implementation to be reviewed or changed?
Assessment objectives and methods
Show the assessment objective
- IR-06a.personnel is/are required to report suspected incidents to the organizational incident response capability within [Organization-defined: time period];
- IR-06b.incident information is reported to [Organization-defined: authorities].
Examine
- Incident response policy
- procedures addressing incident reporting
- incident reporting records and documentation
- incident response plan
- system security plan
- privacy plan
- other relevant documents or records
Interview
- Organizational personnel with incident reporting responsibilities
- organizational personnel with information security and privacy responsibilities
- personnel who have/should have reported incidents
- personnel (authorities) to whom incident information is to be reported
- system users
Test
- Organizational processes for incident reporting
- mechanisms supporting and/or implementing incident reporting
Related controls
These relationships come from the official OSCAL catalog. They indicate useful dependencies or context, not automatic inheritance or equivalence.
Control enhancements
Enhancements add specificity, strength, or scope to the base control. Baseline badges show explicit selections in the official SP 800-53B OSCAL profiles.
IR-6(1) — Automated Reporting
Report incidents using [Organization-defined: automated mechanisms].
Official discussion
The recipients of incident reports are specified in [IR-6b](#ir-6_smt.b) . Automated reporting mechanisms include email, posting on websites (with automatic updates), and automated incident response tools and programs.
Organization-defined parameters (1)
Assessment objectives and methods
incidents are reported using [Organization-defined: automated mechanisms].
Examine
- Incident response policy
- procedures addressing incident reporting
- automated mechanisms supporting incident reporting
- system design documentation
- system configuration settings and associated documentation
- incident response plan
- system security plan
- other relevant documents or records
Interview
- Organizational personnel with incident reporting responsibilities
- organizational personnel with information security responsibilities
Test
- Organizational processes for incident reporting
- automated mechanisms supporting and/or implementing the reporting of security incidents
Related controls
IR-6(2) — Vulnerabilities Related to Incidents
Report system vulnerabilities associated with reported incidents to [Organization-defined: personnel or roles].
Official discussion
Reported incidents that uncover system vulnerabilities are analyzed by organizational personnel including system owners, mission and business owners, senior agency information security officers, senior agency officials for privacy, authorizing officials, and the risk executive (function). The analysis can serve to prioritize and initiate mitigation actions to address the discovered system vulnerability.
Organization-defined parameters (1)
Assessment objectives and methods
system vulnerabilities associated with reported incidents are reported to [Organization-defined: personnel or roles].
Examine
- Incident response policy
- procedures addressing incident reporting
- incident response plan
- system security plan
- privacy plan
- security incident reports and associated system vulnerabilities
- other relevant documents or records
Interview
- Organizational personnel with incident reporting responsibilities
- organizational personnel with information security and privacy responsibilities
- system/network administrators
- personnel to whom vulnerabilities associated with security incidents are to be reported
Test
- Organizational processes for incident reporting
- mechanisms supporting and/or implementing the reporting of vulnerabilities associated with security incidents
IR-6(3) — Supply Chain Coordination
Provide incident information to the provider of the product or service and other organizations involved in the supply chain or supply chain governance for systems or system components related to the incident.
Official discussion
Organizations involved in supply chain activities include product developers, system integrators, manufacturers, packagers, assemblers, distributors, vendors, and resellers. Entities that provide supply chain governance include the Federal Acquisition Security Council (FASC). Supply chain incidents include compromises or breaches that involve information technology products, system components, development processes or personnel, distribution processes, or warehousing facilities. Organizations determine the appropriate information to share and consider the value gained from informing external organizations about supply chain incidents, including the ability to improve processes or to identify the root cause of an incident.
Assessment objectives and methods
incident information is provided to the provider of the product or service and other organizations involved in the supply chain or supply chain governance for systems or system components related to the incident.
Examine
- Incident response policy
- procedures addressing supply chain coordination and supply chain risk information sharing with the Federal Acquisition Security Council
- acquisition policy
- acquisition contracts
- service-level agreements
- incident response plan
- supply chain risk management plan
- system security plan
- plans of other organizations involved in supply chain activities
- other relevant documents or records
Interview
- Organizational personnel with incident reporting responsibilities
- organizational personnel with information security responsibilities
- organizational personnel with supply chain risk management responsibilities
- organization personnel with acquisition responsibilities
Test
- Organizational processes for incident reporting
- organizational processes for supply chain risk information sharing
- mechanisms supporting and/or implementing the reporting of incident information involved in the supply chain
Related controls
Authoritative sources
Bare Metal Cyber is an independent educational publisher and is not affiliated with or endorsed by NIST. Official control requirements and interpretations remain with NIST and the responsible authorizing organization.