EvidenceSheet
NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5 · IR - Incident Response

IR-3 Incident Response Testing

Test the effectiveness of the incident response capability for the system organization-defined frequency using the following tests: organization-defined tests.

Source: NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5, IR-3. The statement above is our statement of the clause, read from the published text and cited so you can check it against the official text, not the instrument verbatim. Open NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5 in the compliance library.

Base controls and their enhancements. Which apply follows the baseline you are assessed against (for example FedRAMP Moderate or High, or the low, moderate and high baselines of SP 800-53B). Text in square brackets is a parameter your organisation sets.

9
artefacts
1
held by a system
0
at each review
hard
to go live
Policy repository / GRC workspace
where the evidence lives
teal = a system already holds it · olive = produced at each review. To go live: easy when half or more of the artefacts are already held by a system, moderate from a quarter to a half, hard below a quarter.

These are the artefacts auditors commonly ask for on this requirement, our guidance rather than text from the standard. Your assessor decides what is sufficient in your context, and asks for samples across the period when a report covers one.

system holds itEvidence a system already holds

  • Incident response test results · Source control / CI pipeline

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

none for this control

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

  • Incident response policy · Policy repository / GRC workspace
  • Contingency planning policy · Policy repository / GRC workspace
  • Procedures addressing incident response testing · Policy repository / GRC workspace
  • Procedures addressing contingency plan testing · Policy repository / GRC workspace
  • Incident response testing material · Document repository
  • Incident response test plan · Policy repository / GRC workspace
  • Incident response plan · Policy repository / GRC workspace
  • Contingency plan · Policy repository / GRC workspace

First move

Mostly documents and reviews. Pull the 1 system-held artefact from your Source control / CI pipeline on a schedule; put the documents under version control with an owner and review date, and log each review as a dated record with a named reviewer.

Common gaps auditors find

Do this for your whole sheet

Paste the rows you run your controls from and get this mapping for every control at once, with the periodic-review ones flagged and a first move per row. No account for the first run.

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