How to Build a Cyber-incident Response Plan
No matter how hard you work to prevent data leaks or hacking incidents, the sheer number of these events taking place recently means that your business may have to deal with the reality of being the target of cybercrime in the future.
Like any crisis, it’s what you do in the hours and days following the incident that makes all the difference when it comes to mitigating damage.
A rock-solid cyber-incident response plan can help get your business functioning again after a cyberattack. Here’s how to create one.
the growing need for cyber security response
Whenever a crime takes place, a rapid and powerful response is needed – and the same applies to digital crimes.
- With 98% of companies having been exposed to a cloud data breach in the past 18 months, the need for decisive action in the wake of an online attack has never been greater.
- Don’t wait until it’s too late to implement an incident response system. By putting a plan together now, your business will be in a strong position to respond in the face of an online security breach.
here’s what a good incident response plan looks like
There are several components that form part of an effective response plan. Here’s what you need to implement in your business to minimise the effects of a cyberattack.
- Accountability. Assigning senior staff members and executives to the security response team will ensure that the people with the authority to make decisions are available if and when an attack takes place.
- Roles and contacts. Knowing exactly who will be responsible for each aspect of the response plan ahead of time will allow you to act swiftly in the event of an attack with the help of your IT department or cybersecurity consultant.
- Communication methods and Plan Bs. It’s worth noting that communication channels like VoIP and email may be down in the wake of a cyberattack. Traditional communication methods like telephone and text messaging will be crucial in this scenario.
- Recording the incident. Any good investigation needs to establish what happened, when it began, what departments of the business were affected, and who the possible suspect/s might be. Reporting this information with the help of your IT department will be crucial in the minutes and hours following a cyberattack.
- Containment, eradication, and recovery. Depending on the scale of the damage caused by a cyberattack, your IT department may decide to watch and wait in order to gain important clues about the attackers or take measures to contain the damage -including shutting down the company’s entire IT network.
Minimising the damage that a cyberattack can do to your business starts with your IT infrastructure. To find out how secure cloud storage can protect your data, chat with our team today.
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