After your data has been compromised, it is difficult to know how to pick up the pieces or even where to start. Security breaches are a common occurrence, which means many organizations are or have been in your current position. Even the biggest enterprises like FaceBook and Gmail have experienced them. While protecting your company’s IT network is critical, having an aftermath plan is, too.
No matter how much faith you place in your online security measures, it never hurts to have a strategy detailing what should happen once your data has been compromised. When you have a backup plan—one that you hopefully will not have to use—it will mitigate the situation if it were to occur.
3 Tasks Your Business Should Complete After a Security Breach
If you have been caught unaware and have no such thing established, we will help you pick up the pieces. Here are some tasks that need to be done after a security breach has taken place at your business.
1) Communicate effectively and efficiently. When your organization has been the victim of a security breach, it is imperative that everyone, both internal and external, know what is going on. Employees should be informed of the situation, as well as those who are in direct contact with customers or clients. The situation also needs to be communicated to clients, which can be done through a media release or an interview if necessary.
All communications, no matter the audience, need to be open and sincere. Accepting responsibility for the mess is key. Include need-to-know details and mitigate the situation. Explain how you will be preventing similar issues and what you are doing to rectify the problem. Finally, invite dialogue and discussion. Customers will have questions, so you must be prepared with responses.
2) Find the root of the problem and fix it. In the aftermath of the breach, you must take the time to determine what went wrong and what gap needs to be fixed. Bringing in a third-party IT professional with expertise in incident response can assist you with this. Because the breach occurred under your current IT provider’s nose, they have an interest in keeping your business and may not disclose all the facts to you. If you brought in an unbiased third-party, you can discover what exactly happened, what has been accessed, and what needs to be fixed.
3) Create a new security strategy. Many organizations trust firewalls to prevent external attacks, but this product has its limitations and should be used in conjunction with other security measures. For instance, it cannot protect against malware that has already found its way onto your endpoints. Instead, organizations need to create a multi-layered strategy that incorporates several solutions like privilege management, application whitelisting, and patching. A multi-layered strategy will help minimize the pathways for malware to reach sensitive information.
Related: Establish a Full Security Fabric to Replace Ineffective Security Measures
To ensure your business is not struggling so much after a security breach, it is critical to have an aftermath plan that can be referenced and followed. If you do not have one and are dealing with a breach, remember to communicate effectively, find and fix the problem, and create a better security strategy.
