Cybersecurity is difficult for most businesses to wrestle with because it involves matters outside the ken of their overall business plan and can sap resources as a parasitic expense of the digital age. Nevertheless, it is critical for businesses to develop formal protocols and procedures to deal with a cybersecurity breach or other cyber crisis. Let’s consider some factors that should be considered below:
#1: Cloud Computing Versus Dedicated Infrastructure Investment
Many companies are storing their data securely on remote cloud services to let dedicated experts worry about network security while they focus on their businesses. This type of storage system provides numerous advantages, especially considering the flexibility of some networks to allow businesses various levels of management.
In some cases, hosting your data on a cloud can be no different than maintaining it in dedicated in-house networks. Cloud servers may allow accounts to act with complete autonomy over how the data is accessed, stored, and served. Another clear advantage of cloud storage is that subscribers benefit from the latest upgrades in technology as well as cybersecurity defenses.
#2: Developing a Cyber Crisis Management Plan
For companies who don’t outsource their network services to secure clouds, it is critical to develop a formal response plan to assign specific responsibilities to various staff members and mitigate damages. Many companies already have a Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) to cut through the bureaucratic red tape and act fast when emergency cyber threats emerge.
After an incident, companies will often need the assistance of attorneys, cyber insurance providers, executives, and the public relations department of their corporation to promptly notify customers, employees, and associates about suspected breaches and incidents.
Communication is the key that can be established through emails, phone calls, public announcements, press conferences, social media, and posted bulletins. Providing swift notice greatly mitigates the inference of negligence and mismanagement on the part of the company and instead shows responsibility.
A flood of notices released in a myriad of formats is preferable because it errs on the side of caution. We often see news stories about how millions of accounts were compromised and stolen from large banks, which quickly puts affected customers and associates on notice to check their credit reports for fraud.
#3: Determining the Risk
Some cybersecurity events are of concern but do not provide evidence of deliberate attacks on the network by hackers or malware. It is important for a company to differentiate between cybersecurity incidents and events. The formal declaration of an incident involves the consumption of extensive resources and should be reserved for instances when the damage is objective.
Cybersecurity events, on the other hand, can often be resolved before they evolve into objective damages. In these cases, it may be a matter of updating network equipment or software to defend against malware and viruses even if nothing proprietary or privileged was compromised.
Creating an obligation upon CERT team IT specialists to safeguard the network and detect the magnitude of cybersecurity events is one critical aspect of developing a proper response protocol.
Conclusion
With these principles in mind and consideration of more specific resources on cybersecurity adaptable to your business needs, it is possible to obtain valuable peace of mind and diminish risks by using concrete crisis management strategies.