Cyber-attacks are most likely to happen with every business. With the help of the latest and advanced software and cybersecurity solutions, the breaches have been reduced significantly. It is the responsibility of the company to secure the personal information and other data of the customers and other businesses data. Every business must have world-class cybersecurity solutions and high-tech software to prevent data breaches by hackers.
Steps to follow if your business experiences a data breach
Step 1: Report the data breach to appropriate parties
The first step you should take if your business experiences a data breach is to notify the appropriate parties like the law and enforcement, the affected businesses, and the affected customers. Notifying the appropriate parties involved will help them to secure their data if possible.
- Law and Enforcement
Informing about the data breach in your business to the law and enforcement is the primary step that should be done in such cases. This will not only put you on the safe side, but you can even take their help to gain control of your data again.
According to Cytelligence, often businesses rely on their cyber teams to handle the situation and get control again, but if the breach happens internally which involves any employee from your company, then the problem is not going to be fixed until you don’t hire a professional. Hence it’s better to inform the authorities and let them take care of the data breach.
- Notify affected businesses and customers
Informing about the data breach in your business to the affected businesses and customers so that they can take precautionary measures for some damage control. If your business accumulates data on behalf of other businesses, then it’s your responsibility to inform these businesses, and also, if the customer’s data is at risk, then notify them as well through news channels or social media platforms.
Step 2: Secure your operations
The second step should be securing your operations simultaneously while informing about the data breach to appropriate parties. Gather a team of professionals and secure your system and operations as soon as possible to stop the data breach. Take care of the vulnerabilities that may have resulted in a data breach. Change access codes and passwords to get control of your system.
Power off the equipment associated with the data breach but take care not to erase any forensic evidence that can take you to the source which caused the data breach. Take help from law and enforcement professionals. After you have informed the law and enforcement authorities and secured your systems and operations, you have done half of the work now remains the legal formalities and investigation.
Step 3: Inform your Lawyers and Insurance agents
The third step is to inform about the data breach to your lawyers and insurance agents. They will guide you through the legal formalities you have to do in case of a data breach. The legal formalities depend upon the size and nature of the company. Prepare your attorneys if there is an investigation regarding the data breach by the law and enforcement authorities.
Notify the insurance agents to claim damage and loss suffered by your business. The insurance companies have experts who will guide you to address this situation of a data breach. You even need help from attorneys to legally notify the affected businesses and customers whose data has been compromised in this breach.
Step 4: Prepare for a legal investigation
In case of a data breach, there are likely more chances of a legal investigation by the law and enforcement department as well as by your insurance company. So the next step will be preparing for a legal investigation. The insurance company will send their agent for the investigation process.
Make sure the evidence is not damaged or destroyed until the legal investigation is done. Get ready with all the documents, evaluate and collect the evidence to help them with the investigation. Make sure you tell everything that happened correctly and provide them with the right information to help them find the source of the breach.
Step 5: Fix the vulnerabilities and security issues
Once you are done with the legal formalities and investigation, the final step will be to fix the vulnerabilities and security issues that have caused the data breach. Ensure that your servers are fully protected and change the passwords and credentials so the hacker cannot get access again to your system. Fix every security issue and ensure that any data breach doesn’t happen again.
Work with forensic professionals to increase the security measures and use more encrypted servers to prevent any kind of breach. Secure your networks and servers and notify your service providers about the breach and make sure they secure the personal information and fix the vulnerabilities to avoid another data breach in the future.
Final Words
Data breaches can be overwhelming and lead to a bad reputation for your business. You never know when there will be a data breach in your business. It’s always important to be on the safe side. Make sure your business is updated with the latest and advanced cybersecurity solutions, and the servers are fully encrypted.
In a situation of a data breach, the business has to incur huge expenses on setting up new networks and other cybersecurity solutions. Ensure that you have insurance coverage for the expenses. Many insurance companies offer policies that do damage control in case of a data breach and keep your business going. Fix the vulnerabilities and security issues to prevent more data breaches in the future.
