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Picture this—you login in for your company's weekly Zoom meeting to find a disaster on your hands. Your boss says three words no one wants to hear, especially for companies housing loads of customer data.
"We've been hacked."
You sink into your chair, and the magnitude of what those three words mean starts to sink in.
Client data is now at risk.
Your data. Employee data is at risk.
Financial information has been compromised.
Now, you want to know the next best steps for you and your company. Well, we've got the answer.
The truth is, this happens to companies every day. There is never a good time to have a data breach, but it's always a good time to prepare for one so that you'll be ready to respond if you become a victim.
How To Respond After A Breach
Step 1 - Make your systems unavailable
Take all affected systems offline. That means make your active websites unavailable or have them go "under construction." Ensure that no customer can input information that the hackers can now use since they've taken over your system.
Update your password credentials to add a layer of protection. But whatever you do, do NOT quit or turn off your machines and software until after data forensics has begun. Doing so may delete valuable evidence about the hacker, what type of hack it was, and more.
Step 2 - Seek professional help.
Unlike the people and companies in Europe, in America, we cannot simply call the authorities when a cyber attack occurs. Instead, we have to seek help in the marketplace. But it's important to do so as the sooner you can get professional help to neutralize the breach, the less damage the breach may have on those affected.
Here at 1600 Avenue, we provide professional data and cyber security services to companies and individuals. So whether you're looking to get ahead and ensure you have things in place to protect yourself from a breach. Or you're a victim seeking help to untangle this mess, we're here to help, and you can contact us.
Step 3 - Be transparent.
No company ever wants to admit that their systems have been compromised, but you must inform your customers that their data may be in danger. This allows you to take the best and most responsible action keeping your customers well being in mind. But it also allows your customers the opportunity to put systems in place to protect themselves as well. This may include data monitoring to ensure if their data is used, they can shut it down quickly.
It also may be in your company's best interest to provide services like this to those affected.
Step 4 - Create a long-term data security plan.
Ideally, you would want to have this plan in place before an attack, but it's never too late to think through how you will best protect your company's data and those you serve.
As mentioned before, 1600 Avenue is committed to helping everyone, people and companies, have access to premium cyber security offerings available to companies and organizations like NATO. For more information about us and what we offer, click here.
All in all, we never want to hear those three words, "We've been hacked," but if that's your reality, there are a series of steps that you can take to ensure you secure your data quickly and can put systems in place to make this far less likely in the future.
Contact us today to get started on your cyber security plan and to prevent the next data breach from happening.