Incidentmust

Incidentmust is a term used in information security and crisis management to denote a policy or protocol that requires certain actions to be performed in response to a detected incident. It defines mandatory stages such as rapid detection, classification, escalation, containment, communication, and post-incident review, with enforced accountability.

Origin and usage: The term emerged in professional literature and practice in the early 2020s as a way to emphasize mandatory compliance in incident handling. It is not tied to a single standard but is often described as aligning with established frameworks such as NIST SP 800-61 and ISO/IEC 27035.

Characteristics: It emphasizes time-bound requirements, mandatory documentation, predefined roles, and escalation paths. It may be scaled to organizational size and risk profile. It also includes post-incident learning through after-action reports and metrics.

Criticism: Critics argue that rigid incidentmust requirements can hinder flexibility, create bureaucratic overhead, and cause alert fatigue if not properly integrated with risk-based prioritization.

Examples of implementation: Some enterprises incorporate incidentmust as a policy layer within their incident response plans, using automated ticketing, runbooks, and tabletop exercises to satisfy the mandatory steps.

See also: Incident response, Incident management, NIST SP 800-61, ISO/IEC 27035, Runbook.