Global firms and international businesses don't have the luxury to hide an event of hacking or data breaches from their customers or stakeholders. They are compelled by law to be utterly transparent in the deliverance of the true status of the situation if a breach occurs. Cybercriminals have doubled their game using the latest and most advanced hacking tools and software at their disposal. They can shatter the foundation of any tech company/business if the business is not conscious of its cybersecurity.
In the event of a breach, there is nothing much that can be done to recover the data or null the damage sustained per se, but there are some technical questions you can ask yourself as what led to the breach in the first place;
Did an attack occur?
Breaking into a highly efficient and secure system is not like breaking into a house laced with alarms and security cameras. When a cybercriminal enters a system, they give it their best not to raise any alarms and conduct their business anonymously; on the other hand, a burglar will be caught promptly because alarms will go off. In this case, everyone will know that there was breaking, but in the first case, no one will hardly notice.
It is very important to make sure whether an attack went through, or are we reading the signs wrong? It can take almost months to a year for businesses to know that a data breach has happened. There are however some alarming signs that you can take on face value to determine that an attack has happened or is still commencing such as;
- A gradual decrease in the performance of the systems
- Shocking network data usages
- Increase in frequent system crashes
- Unfamiliar and strange IP addresses registered into your network
What is the scope of the current breach?
If there is anything worse than filling in your customers that you have sustained a critical cyber blow, it is making the same announcement frequently. You don't want to be one of the companies that get to the media and announces a particular number of causalities or users affected without running an analysis first. The best possible strategy is first to determine the actual number of systems affected and secondly how many users were targeted in events of the current data breach. If you have the numbers only then you should take such information to the public. You need to run an extensive network and malware analysis to determine what attack hacker used and how many systems fell prey to the illicit breach.
How can you contain the attack?
The next question to take into account is what can you do to contain this attack and stop it from advancing any further. To do this, you first need to crunch the number of causalities from the attack and then to come up with a strong strategy that can assist you in containing the situation. The first logical thing to do is to address the users who were affected during the breach and the nature of user data that was leaked or taken away by the hackers. After you have done this, take all your systems offline, fall completely off the grid, and work tirelessly to take control back by targeting the virus/malware incorporated into your systems by the hackers. Don't rush into pulling the plug just yet first evaluate the situation and nature of the attack properly and then make a logical strategy to overcome the attack.
How can you prevent future attacks?
After you have taken care of the current cyber situation and done everything you could to contain the proximity of the attack, you need to be mindful of the future and what it can bring in the effect of further cyberattacks. At first, you should pull up the important data/information from the current cyber breach dictating the nature of the attack, tools used to commence the attack, and loopholes in your security network specifically where the breach occurred.
When you have all such information, you can make logical assumptions and proceed with a balanced strategy into the future. At first, you will need to install an antivirus program/system after reviewing the current information at hand. This will secure your network from illicit hackers, and then you need to train your employees better for tackling future attacks/breaches and how to interpret an attack even before it happens.
Should the current breach be up for discussion?
The answer to this question without second-guessing is Yes. You need to be vocal about the security breaches that happen and hacks you have sustained on all fronts, whether these are your customers, stakeholders, investors, or public representatives. Plenty of businesses don't even feel the obligation to transfer the information of a breach onto their representatives or fill in their customers about the valuable data they just lost. Honesty and transparency with your customers are what will get you through this on the bright side is open, and upfront with your customers ingrain trust and loyalty, they will surely want to do business with you in the future.
Should dedicated systems for consistent backup of data be implemented?
In the event of a breach, critical data is lost whether the data corresponds to the personal or financial nature of the business. All this data, once lost, can't be retrieved until unless it is backed up offline in more secure systems. You should always aim for consistent backup of your data either weekly, monthly or daily basis, doing so saves the essential user data over more secure channels and makes an emergency copy to be used in events of a data breach or hack. If the backups of your user data are compromised too, then there is nothing you can do to recover from such damage. To make sure that doesn't happen, always take the systems where the backup is stored to offline status.
Lastly, it is extremely important to give the best cybersecurity training to your employees in order to make them smart enough to understand the attack, ask these questions, and do the necessary investigation to answer as well.