How Your Company Can Recover from a Data Breach

Four of those organizations won't recuperate from the information breach and might be closed permanently within the next six months. Hackers will also release more than 1,000 new malware programs onto the web. The Internet is a minefield for organizations and you may one day get yourself the victim of a data breach. If that happens, you'll need to act quickly to mitigate disaster. Here are the seven steps you should take promptly following a data breach.

Data Breach Response: 7 Steps to Take After a Data Breach

According to a study, the average total cost of an information breach floats around $3.86 million. A lot of that expense happens due to the fact that many breaches are not caught or acted upon quickly. Make these steps quickly to recover from an information breach.

1. Confirm the Breach

According to a survey of SOC experts, as many as 50 percent of breach reports are false positives – which means, no breach occurred at all. Investigating false positives can eat away a security team’s time and budget. Therefore, always have your security team affirm that a breach occurred prior to amassing a task force.

2. Assemble a Task Force to Handle the Situation

Assemble a team to deal with the breach. This keeps all response and recovery efforts centralized. If you already have an incident response plan that incorporates defined roles for each member, that will help speed up your response. (For our clients, that could include reaching our team to assist your response.)

3. Isolate Affected Machines and Accounts

• If a virus has affected a particular machine, disconnect it from the network. You may also need to temporarily disable affected accounts or limit their permissions.
• If you’ve unplugged the computer from the network (think ethernet, Wi-Fi, even Bluetooth), don’t shut down the power to the device unless you’re directed to do so.
• Investigators may want to check out the machine first, while they try to figure out how the attack happened and how extensive the damage is. Once you’ve contained the breach, you should also enact your business continuity plan to begin resuming normal operations.

4. Examine the Evidence

Once the breach is contained, preserve and examine the evidence. Take notes and create a timeline of events. At this point, you may need to contact law enforcement or the appropriate authorities. By keeping the evidence intact, you will have a much better chance of tracing the malicious actor.

5. Fix the Vulnerabilities

If the breach exploited a vulnerability in your system, then it’s the time to correct that and look for other possible vulnerabilities that a future attack may exploit. This may include starting a cybersecurity awareness program or improving on the one you already have by conducting simulated phishing exercises.

6. Notify Affected Parties

Security breaches, in which data loss took place, often mean that companies are required by law to notify affected parties, usually within a given period. Don’t neglect this step. Failing to provide the proper notifications can threaten to further damage the consumer’s trust or your company’s reputation and lead to costly fines.

7. Prevent Future Breaches

• Your customers’ perception of your company must be one of stability and security. If you have suffered a breach you must take the steps to reassure them that you are taking corrective steps.
• Consider conducting a penetration test to identify additional parts of your application that need improvement.
• This reassurance will help build their confidence in your business and help you regain their trust.

Get the Tools You Need to Recover from a Data Breach

To recover from a data breach, you must act quickly when it happens. Having an incident response plan and a business continuity plan in place can help with that. Strong security policies and procedures can also make prompt action easier. Give your company the tools it needs to respond to and emerge from the breach even stronger.

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