Forrester’s Incident Severity Matrix Template

Breach disclosure mandates from regulatory bodies worldwide are placing pressure on CISOs, executives, and legal counsel to determine incident severity and material impact, often while a breach is not yet contained. To meet stringent disclosure timelines, cool heads and refined processes must prevail. The Forrester Incident Severity Matrix template helps internal stakeholders understand and build consensus on the potential impact of an incident, whether the incident will have a material impact on the organization, and who should be involved in the response and notification process. Security and risk leaders can customize and use this template to formalize and socialize their severity categories within incident response plans and playbooks and during executive and board tabletop exercises.