Cyber Security - What to do in a Cyber Attack? Part 2 of 2

Isolate the Breach

Your technical team should aim to find out where the breach happened, so they can contain it quickly. The goal is to ensure that as few systems as possible are impacted.

Unfortunately, this will often mean that you need to suspend the part of your network that was compromised. This can be extremely disruptive and costly to your business. You may even find that you have to temporarily suspend your whole network.

No business owner wants to do this. But in the event of a cyber attack, isolating and containing the breach is crucial for minimizing the damage done to the network.

Once this has been completed, your technical team will test other parts of your network to make sure it hasn't spread. And once they're certain that it's contained, they can work to remove it.

Investigate

The next step is to conduct an investigation. You'll need to explore all facts about the attack, including the effects, the source, and any actions that still need to be taken to fix the damage from the attack.

This will usually involve members outside of your IT team. HR staff will need to be involved if your employees were impacted by the attack. PR staff will need to make a plan if the public or customers were impacted. And your lawyers will need to begin exploring the legal courses/consequences due to the attack.

Basically, at this point, everyone should be moving quickly to manage the fallout from the cyber attack. Your job is to make sure they have all necessary resources to carry out those tasks and give them clear leadership.

Document

As your teams work to combat the attack, ensure they're documenting everything they find and do. This evidence may end up being incredibly valuable. You'll be able to find out how the attack happened and make sure that part of your business is not vulnerable in the future.

Along with data that your team can use to strengthen your cyber security, this documentation will usually be useful when addressing regulatory and legal requirements and managing public relations later on.

Contact Clients

This step is all about being proactive. Your team needs to reach out to all clients impacted and let them know. You may need to ensure they change any passwords, or PIN numbers if their private information was compromised.

This is likely to be the most difficult step. But a reactive approach, where your business confirms the cyber attack after customers realize their information has been compromised can massively damage your reputation.

Prevent Future Attacks

When it comes to cyber-security, top-notch security may seem expensive at first glance. But you'll quickly realize that it's not even close to what you'd spend when dealing with a cyber attack.

Luckily, you have plenty of options to make your business less of a target for cybercriminals. From security assessments to state-of-the-art antivirus software, there is more affordable and effective technology being released every day.

Preparing for a Cyber Attack

These days, the average business is becoming increasingly likely to be targeted for a cyber attack. Whether you've recently been attacked or you simply want to make sure you're not attacked in the future, we can help.

Get in touch today and make sure your business and personal data is protected from cybercriminals.

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Vinayak Mehta