NC4

CII / Essential Entity Notification Guide

Minimal notification framework for regulated and critical digital service incidents.

Moderate impact incident

  • Submit initial notification with scope and containment status.
  • Indicate affected services and expected restoration timeline.
  • Provide technical and management contacts.

High impact incident

  • Provide operational impact on essential service delivery.
  • Include evidence of spread/degradation risk.
  • Provide update cadence for next 24 hours.

Critical / national impact incident

  • Trigger emergency coordination and submit priority report immediately.
  • Provide continuity risk to essential/public safety services.
  • Maintain structured updates until stabilization.

Sharing information safely

  • Classify sensitive intelligence before sharing (TLP style handling).
  • Use secure/encrypted channels for forensic artifacts.
  • Share minimum necessary information for triage and response.

Minimum notification details

Include incident start time, affected critical services, business/public impact, active containment actions, dependency impact, and accountable technical and executive contacts.