No company ever believes that a security breach will fall on them until it actually does. One day, things are going well, and the following day, you find something suspicious: information leaking out, or even a ransom note on the screen.
A security breach can be overwhelming. But what you do within the initial hours and days can be the difference. Here is a straightforward guide on what to do if you ever find yourself in such a situation.
Remain composed and minimize the harm
When you discover a data breach, the most likely reaction is panic:
- Closing down everything
- Destroying files
- Sending desperate emails.
But take a breath. Containment should be your first step, not destruction. Isolate systems that are under attack from the network so that the attacker cannot infect more systems. However, do not delete the tracks. That electronic footprint will come in handy later.
Bring in a cyber incident response team
Imagine a cyber attack as a house fire. You would not attempt to extinguish it yourself with a garden hose. Instead, you would call firefighters. The same applies here.
Cyber incident response companies have the expertise to mitigate a breach. They have the tools and playbooks to handle it and instruct on recovery. ‘’But I have an in-house team of IT specialists,’’ you might argue. The truth is, external responders bring objectivity and expertise. At this point, you don’t even know if the breach occurred from within your team.
So, contact the experts whenever you establish a breach. Postponing this step may result in additional damage, increased downtime, and increased expenses.
Notify the right people
Transparency matters. In some cases, the law may compel you to inform the regulatory bodies, customers, or even the entire community about it. This depends on your area and industry.
But besides compliance, reaching out displays responsibility. Immediately communicate with key stakeholders, particularly in cases where there is a risk of customer data. It might be a hard decision. But people would want to hear it from you rather than the news.
Recover what you can and investigate
After the immediate fire is put out, the next thing to do is to determine what went wrong:
- Discuss logs with your incident response team
- Examine entry points
- Assess the extent of the breach.
Did hackers use weak passwords? A missing update? An unsecured API?
Document everything. Such a probe is crucial not only in averting a similar incident, but it also aids in legal or insurance claims.
Train and strengthen your defenses
Finally, a security breach hurts. But it is also a learning opportunity. Following recovery, hold a post-mortem meeting with your team to review the incident. Do this:
- Patch vulnerabilities
- Update policies
- Re-train employees about the dangers of phishing/social engineering.
- Take into consideration routine penetration testing and more robust monitoring tools in the future.
It is not just about getting back to normal but creating a better normal. A normal state where your systems are more efficient at handling future attacks.
