Incident response plan includes cardholder data breach procedures
Why it matters
PCI-DSS 4.0 Req 12.10.1 requires that an incident response plan is implemented and ready to be activated immediately upon a suspected or confirmed breach; Req 12.10 requires annual testing of the plan. Without a written plan that explicitly addresses cardholder data, a breach response becomes ad-hoc: notifications are delayed, containment steps are missed, and regulatory timelines (Stripe requires notification within 24 hours) are violated. ISO 27001:2022 A.5.26 and NIST IR-8 both require documented, tested procedures for responding to information security incidents.
Severity rationale
Medium because an undocumented or incomplete incident response plan delays breach containment and regulatory notification, converting a manageable incident into a reportable PCI-DSS violation with potential fines.
Remediation
Create docs/incident-response-plan.md that explicitly covers cardholder data breach scenarios — not just generic incidents. The plan must include specific notification timelines: payment processors (Stripe) within 24 hours, affected cardholders per applicable state breach notification law (typically 30–72 days).
## Notification Timeline (per PCI-DSS 4.0 Req 12.10)
- Hour 0: Isolate affected systems, preserve logs
- Hour 2: Notify incident commander and activate response team
- Hour 24: Notify Stripe and acquiring bank
- Day 30: Notify affected cardholders per state breach law
- Day 30: File with applicable regulatory authority
Include named role contacts (security lead, legal, PR) with out-of-band contact methods, since email and Slack may be compromised during an active incident. Review and test the plan annually per Req 12.10.
DetectionPro
The detection method for this pattern is part of AuditBuffet Pro.
The full method (what to look for, pass and fail conditions, and how results get reported) ships inside the PCI Compliance Audit. The pattern definition, severity rationale, and remediation remain openly licensed under CC-BY-4.0.
External references
- pci-dss:4.0 · Req 12.10 — Suspected and confirmed security incidents that could impact the CDE are responded to immediately
- pci-dss:4.0 · Req 12.10.1 — An incident response plan exists and is ready to be activated in the event of a system breach
- nist:rev5 · IR-8 — Incident Response Plan
- iso-27001:2022 · A.5.26 — Response to information security incidents
Taxons
History
- 2026-04-18·v1.0.0·Initial import from ecommerce-pci·automated