IR.L2-3.6.1: Incident Handling Assessment Guide

Official reference

The requirement

Establish an operational incident-handling capability for organizational systems that includes preparation, detection, analysis, containment, recovery, and user response activities.

DoD CMMC Assessment Guide, Level 2, version 2.13. IR.L2-3.6.1; requirement and objectives, printed page 136 ↗

Assessment objectives

What must be established

Determine if each applicable objective is satisfied. The labels below follow the cited DoD assessment guide.

[a]
an operational incident-handling capability is established;
[b]
the operational incident-handling capability includes preparation;
[c]
the operational incident-handling capability includes detection;
[d]
the operational incident-handling capability includes analysis;
[e]
the operational incident-handling capability includes containment;
[f]
the operational incident-handling capability includes recovery; and
[g]
the operational incident-handling capability includes user response activities.

MET requires evidence that all applicable objectives are satisfied. Final, approved evidence is needed. A NOT APPLICABLE determination needs a scope-based basis and is equivalent to MET for scoring. Enduring exceptions and temporary deficiencies have specific conditions under 32 CFR 170.24; they are not a general permission to defer implementation.

GAVII Cybersecurity assessment approach

Connect the objective to the evidence

Follow preparation, detection, analysis, containment, recovery, and user response. Clarify what the organization does itself and what a provider performs, including decisions that remain internal.

Assessment focus: objectives [a], [b], [c], [d], [e], [f], [g]. Use the methods together; a single example does not establish every objective.

Examine

Review the response plan, assigned roles, escalation paths, playbooks, and exercise or incident records.

Interview

Who can authorize containment, and how does the team operate if the normal communication system is unavailable?

Demonstrate or test

Walk through a sanitized incident scenario from initial detection to recovery and identify the responsible role at each step.

Evidence gaps to look for

The provider monitors alerts but nobody owns containment decisions.
Contact lists and recovery steps are outdated.

GAVII Cybersecurity’s examples illustrate ways to examine, interview, and test. They are not a mandatory artifact list or a guarantee of an assessment result. Combine methods and address every applicable objective in the actual scope.

Assessment constraints

Scoring and POA&M eligibility

Score: 5

If this requirement is NOT MET, deduct 5 points from the Level 2 maximum of 110. The deduction applies to the requirement, not separately to each objective.

Scoring rule ↗

POA&M: Not eligible

This requirement has a deduction greater than 1 point and does not qualify for the limited encryption exception. It cannot be deferred on the POA&M used for Conditional Level 2 status.

POA&M rule ↗

Conditional Level 2 requires a score of at least 88 out of 110 and satisfaction of every eligibility condition. A 1-point requirement is not automatically eligible. The permitted POA&M must be closed through the appropriate closeout assessment within 180 days of the Conditional CMMC Status Date. An operational remediation plan does not confer Conditional Status.

Assessment planning

Location and observation

Not specifically listed in CAP P.11

This requirement is not specifically listed in CAP P.11. That does not establish that remote assessment is sufficient: the Lead CCA and C3PAO determine an adequate approach for the actual scope and evidence.

CAP §P.11, pages 10–11 ↗

Check the source

References and related requirements

DoD CMMC Assessment Guide, Level 2 ↗IR.L2-3.6.1; requirement and objectives, printed page 136. 2.13, September 2024.
32 CFR 170.24: Assessment findings and scoring ↗170.24(b) and (c)(2). Current electronic Code of Federal Regulations.
32 CFR 170.21: POA&M eligibility and closeout ↗170.21(a)(2) and (b). Current electronic Code of Federal Regulations.
NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 2 ↗Requirement 3.6.1. February 2020, updated January 2021.
NIST SP 800-171A ↗Assessment procedure 3.6.1. June 2018.
Cyber AB CMMC Assessment Process (CAP) ↗P.11, printed pages 10-11; Level 2 certification assessment-location planning. 2.0, December 2024.

Program timing and contract applicability can change independently of these requirements. Check current DoD program notices and your solicitation or contract before making a compliance decision. Open the official DoD resource hub.

Incident Handling