For each critical role (Incident Commander, lead investigator, comms lead) is there a designated deputy if the primary is unavailable?
Demonstrate that the organization maintains documented, current deputy assignments for all critical incident response roles to ensure continuity of leadership and decision-making authority during security incidents.
Description
What this control does
This control ensures that for every critical incident response role—such as Incident Commander, lead investigator, and communications lead—the organization has formally designated and documented a deputy who can assume responsibilities when the primary role-holder is unavailable due to leave, illness, or other circumstances. Deputy assignments must be current, communicated to the incident response team, and equipped with the same access, training, and authority as primaries. This resilience mechanism prevents single points of failure that could delay or compromise incident response effectiveness during critical security events.
Control objective
What auditing this proves
Demonstrate that the organization maintains documented, current deputy assignments for all critical incident response roles to ensure continuity of leadership and decision-making authority during security incidents.
Associated risks
Risks this control addresses
- Incident response paralysis or significant delay when a primary role-holder is unavailable during active security breach
- Unauthorized or unqualified personnel assuming critical incident response roles in absence of documented succession, leading to procedural violations or regulatory non-compliance
- Loss of institutional knowledge and context during role transitions if deputies are not identified, trained, or briefed in advance
- Failure to execute time-sensitive containment, eradication, or communication actions due to lack of authorized decision-makers
- Breakdown in chain of custody for forensic evidence when lead investigator is unavailable and no designated alternate exists
- External stakeholder and regulatory communication failures when communications lead is absent without a prepared deputy
- Escalation bottlenecks during major incidents requiring coordination across multiple teams without clear backup authority
Testing procedure
How an auditor verifies this control
- Obtain the current incident response plan, RACI matrix, or organizational chart documenting critical incident response roles and their assigned primary personnel.
- Verify that the documentation explicitly identifies a designated deputy for each critical role (Incident Commander, lead investigator, communications lead, and any additional organization-specific critical roles).
- Interview the Incident Response Manager or Security Operations leadership to confirm deputies are formally notified of their assignments and understand their responsibilities.
- Review access control records to verify that deputies possess the same system access, escalation privileges, and communication channels as their corresponding primary role-holders.
- Examine training records to confirm deputies have completed the same incident response training and tabletop exercises as primary role-holders within the past 12 months.
- Select a sample of 2-3 recent incidents from the past year and trace documentation to verify whether deputy assignments were referenced or utilized when primaries were unavailable.
- Request evidence of the last update date for deputy assignments and verify the organization has a defined review cadence (at minimum annually or upon organizational changes).
- Conduct a simulated scenario or tabletop exercise walkthrough with deputies present to validate their readiness to assume critical roles without supervision.