If you are well acquainted with recent happenings, you should be aware that there is some major news that media houses never miss reporting on. One such is when there is a data breach in a big company.
When Facebook, Equifax, and other industry giants suffered the wrath of unscrupulous individuals through a data breach, some of the major global networks seized the moment to cover the unfoldings. This is mainly a breach of data in such companies affecting not only the company itself but consumers who have accounts with them as well.
So, what should companies, either big or small, do to manage such situations with ease? One solution is to hire and encryption technology company to ensure your company data remains encrypted while still remaining accessible. There are formidable systems such as Kindite’s end-to-end encryption platform to protect your data that can be quickly deployed and has minimal maintenance needs.
However, what happens when a data breach has already occurred? Here are 7 steps you should take following a data breach.
1. Communicate Effectively
Once you realize that there has been a data breach in your business, the first and most important thing is to communicate. Whether you have all the details as to how the breach occurred, it’s of utmost importance to ensure that you let your customers, as well as your employees, know of the breach.
Thanks to technological advances, getting word to your employees and consumers have been made easy. A simple email to your employees and consumers will suffice.
2. Mitigate The Situation
After communicating with your stakeholders, the next step is to find out a way to stop the breach. You can do this by seeking help from independent specialists, or use your in-house staff.
In order to mitigate the situation, it is imperative that you take control of your network by isolating the computers from the server. This means shutting down any transmitting channel till you pinpoint the source of the breach. Remember that your priority is to identify and isolate the threat.
3. Preserve Evidence
Although preserving evidence is mostly overlooked, it is a crucial step in trying to identify the culprit. But how can you preserve digital evidence? Well, this is pretty simple. You can simply save every log action prior to the breach and after the breach.
While at it, always remember that data thieves can be very mischievous to setting off any auditing tools in your security system. If you find out that your auditing tools have been shut off, ensure to restore them immediately.
4. Take Legal Action
Another crucial step in the event of a data breach in your system is to take legal action. This can be your in-house legal team or a representative.
This way, you will be in a better position to navigate through any legal requirements pertaining to the breached data. Additionally, depending on the nature of your data, your legal team will be able to give you ample advice on whether to report the incident to law enforcement or not.
While this is highly unlikely, doing so will be with the sole aim of protecting your consumers from any form of exploitation.
5. Plan Ahead
A breach to your system is a good wake up call that you should update your system’s security. This means that you should have a foolproof plan to ensure that your system isn’t easily breached in the future.
Involve your IT team in evaluating the most affected part of your system to get a clear understanding of how to fix it. You should also go further to identify any vulnerabilities in your system by assessing your entire infrastructure. This will not only help you identify any potential leaks in the system but develop a plan for the future as well.
6. Consider Insuring Your Data
With an increase in the rate at which data breach occurs in different companies, you should consider insuring your data.
Although taking this approach might seem expensive to many businesses, it is a crucial step in cushioning your business from any legal controversies. Additionally, insuring your data ensures that your consumers remain safe from any form of exploitation.
7. Always Monitor Your System
While you can do a lot to manage data breach, the most effective thing to do is to constantly monitor your system. Sometimes, a simple glitch in the system could mean that your system is under attack.
Do a routine assessment of your system to identify any activity that stands out. Doing this regularly will go a long way in ensuring that you keep a closer look at what goes on in your business as well as mitigating any potential breach on time.