Recently, hundreds of businesses in the U.S. and worldwide were affected by a cyberattack. It resulted in company data being held at bay for a large sum of $5 million.
Unfortunately, data breaches happen all the time in today’s society. Sometimes it can be the reason why businesses never recover financially.
However, if it does happen to your company, you can mitigate the damage with a data breach response plan. Here are some steps to ensure your company acts swiftly and can recover.
1. Be Transparent With Your Customers
When a business data breach happens, things will be in flux. But you have to get the word out to your customers ASAP. Depending on your state, you have to let customers know during a specific period.
However, the longer you wait, the more customers won’t trust you after resolving the problem. So here’s what you should do:
- Tell them when and how the data breach happened
- Inform customers of what business data was compromised
- Let customers know how you’re going to solve the problem
It may not seem like much. But clients will respect your transparency rather than keeping them in the dark.
2. Find the Cause
Next, you’ll need to find the cause of the leak. The most common way hackers access business data is by:
- Weak passwords
- Employees sharing sensitive information
- Out of date security software
Pinpointing the cause can be tricky, so you may need to hire an IT specialist if you don’t have one in-house. Once you’ve grasped the source, the next step is figuring out how much damage has occurred.
3. Contact Law Enforcement
Remember, cybercrime is still a crime, and you’ll need to call law enforcement to let them know. It may seem like a waste, but it’s not if a device was stolen or an employee purposely started the cyberattack.
Then, file a complaint with the Internet Crime Complaint Center, a division within the FBI. They’ll advise you on the next steps and do their part to track down the hacker. Plus, it lets your customers know you’re taking the breach seriously.
4. Minimize the Damage
Your data breach response is critical since your network is wide open during the initial attack. But you don’t want another breach to happen, so you’ll have to start new security measures immediately.
Shut down your website and run an anti-virus program to eliminate any viruses. You can also use software that safely erases sensitive data if you need to replace infected devices.
A Data Breach Response Plan Can Save Your Company
Having a data breach response plan is what your business needs in the event of a cyber attack. Without it, it can be challenging to recover from the damages.
But if you follow our steps above, you’ll be able to save your data and your customer’s trust. Please don’t wait until it’s too late.
If you’ve gained some insight and want to learn more, feel free to check out our blog for related content.
