Recovering from a Cyber-Attack

Operating in the internet’s digital honeycomb is like walking blindfolded into the Amazon Rainforest. If you’re not careful, you can end up falling into the traps of hackers and end up losing your hard-earned money. Not only is a cyber-attack difficult to recover from, but regaining the trust of customers is even more difficult.

If you’ve been a victim of a cybersecurity breach and are pondering over what to do next, take the below steps to mitigate the damage:

Step 1: Contain the breach

You might be tempted to delete all data post a breach, but remember –

data theft is akin to ordinary theft and you must preserve the crime scene for internet police to investigate.

The first step that you must take is to determine what servers have been compromised and take the help of experts to ensure that the breach doesn’t spread to other servers. Here is how to go about it:

•  Disconnect the internet,
•  Disable remote access,
•  Update all firewall settings,
•  Install any pending security patch updates, and
•  Change all passwords

Step 2: Assess the breach

If you’ve been a victim of a broader attack that involved multiple businesses, you must determine the cause of the breach. For instance:

•  Who had access to the infected servers?
•  What network points were active when the breach occurred?
•  How did the attack initiate?
•  Identify what IT assets have been accessed without authorization.
•  Do a data audit to assess if data has been lost or compromised

Step 3: Notify all stakeholders

To manage the fallout, you should first notify all managers and employees about the breach. Talk with your staff and explain to them what happened. It is crucial for everyone on the team to be on the same page during this difficult phase. After briefing your employees, notify your customers.

Emphasize on being transparent with them and communicate positively and professionally so as not to panic your clients. If the cyberattack involved a severe data breach, note that based on the data protection regulations in your location, you may be required to notify the regulatory authorities within a specified time limit.

Always cross-check with a compliance specialist in this case.

Cyber-attacks or data breaches can be very stressful. However, as long as you take the right steps, you can be confident of a speedy recovery.