Under Attack? Here’s Your 360-Degree Data Breach Response Checklist

With new advancements on the internet, we’re proceeding towards an era of greater connectivity. But just like all other great things, this connectivity too is coming at a price. And in the case of technological advancement, the price is even heftier. Our web evolution comes along with sophisticated versions of hackers and cybercriminals. Despite growing concerns and awareness on cyber-risks, nothing is stopping these expert hackers to find unprecedented ways of exploiting the present vulnerabilities.

Arming Yourself With An All-Round Response To Data Breach

Data breaches have become the easiest form of attack within India and beyond. Hackers are continuously investigating loopholes to enter into intricately connected software of companies to steal confidential information. In the first half of 2021, India had lost around INR 165 million due to data loss from malware.

In case of a data breach event, businesses can experience severe financial implications, legal liabilities, and reputational damage through media coverage. Opting for a 360-degree data breach response has become pertinent to mitigate dire consequences and buckle up against other data attacks.?

To get done with the proverbial cat-and-mouse game between hackers and data theft once and for all, your response plan should mark the checklist.?

Here’s what you ought to do when a data breach occurs:

In the first 24 hours of a data breach

As soon as a data breach incident occurs, the first 24 hours are critical for the business. This is to clarify the circumstances of the breach, assess the damage, and investigate it to devise an actionable plan. Below, we are sharing with you a list of reactionary tasks to help you formulate your incident response plan.

Detect the breach. Record date and time.??

Be proactive and detect the cause of the breach. Although the reasons may vary, detecting the signs of the breach helps you identify the potential causes and allows you to remain vigilant in the future.?

You must also record the date and time on which the breach occurred to aid you in your investigation.?

Alert everyone and secure the premises.?

Immediately alert your response team and everyone else on board that data theft has occurred. Secure your premise by locking down the physical locations of your servers and isolating the area of the network where the theft has occurred.

Stop exfiltration of data and document everything.?

Make sure no one tampers with the affected machine. Keep them offline but ensure they are not turned off or nobody interacts with them. Document every evidence you come across during this time. This spans from who discovered the breach, when did they find it, what is known of it, and what steps you’re going to take.

Pro tip: Keep your forensic team closely by your side as you investigate.

Interview everyone involved and review communication protocols.

No matter how much you trust your team members, interview and document your discussion with everyone being interviewed regarding the breach. Keep those who found the breach on the top of the list. Once you have questioned everyone within the following 24 hours that ensue after data theft, you must review your communication protocols.

This involves deciding who needs to know what about the data breach. It is not necessary that everyone must be aware of every running record; you have to be wise in ensuring the dissemination of information on your roadmap.?

Assess priorities and bring your forensic team.

The conclusive steps in the first 24 hours of a data breach include assessing your priorities and bringing in your forensic people. Make sure you are not overwhelmed by the breach and have kept an objective look at the current risks to identify top priorities for moving forward. If necessary, consult with legal counsel or notify law enforcement channels later on.?

Beyond the first 24 hours of the data breach

If you’ve check-marked all these tasks to be followed within one full day of the data breach, here’s what you ought to do in the next 24 hours. These reactionary tasks provide a more in-depth response across other fronts.?

Fix the issue (of course).

Your forensic team will have likely investigated the network and identified the cause of the breach. Remove all affected machines and systems that have been adulterated, as well as any hacker tools that may exploit additional vulnerabilities and security gaps. Replace all adulterated machines and document your moves so you can learn from them in the future.?

Work alongside your forensic team.

You cannot leave your forensic team to investigate the breach alone. Provide them the stock of what was stolen, by analyzing backup, preserved or reconstructed data sources. They also might need to know the number of customers or employees who were affected and the type of information that was stolen.

All these insights will help you notify your people and take stronger action towards your data security.?

Identify your legal obligations.?

Your legal team needs to take a look at federal and state regulations that govern your industry. Although it may damage consumers’ trust in your organization, you have to abide by the law to avoid bigger problems.?

Identify potential conflicts.

A response plan to a data breach is often ongoing for some time. In that case, if there’s an upcoming business initiative that may interfere with the investigation of the response plan, you’ll have to work around a different way. In addition, your response team and upper management must be aware of these and be on the same page. You may or may not have to postpone some things as the response carries on.

It goes without saying that investigating and responding to a data breach should be your first priority before anything else. While your data has been compromised, the important thing is that you should immediately rectify any security gaps to avoid being targeted again.

Therefore, though we have with us our response checklist from the first 24 hours to the next 24 hours of a data breach, it cannot compete with an all-round, full-suite of cybersecurity services.?

Need A More Comprehensive and Effective Solution?

Anzen is a cybersecurity service provider in areas of Information Technology and Risk Management. Our concept of risk management deals with balancing information security threats to organizations and eliminating the risks of the data breach at all times.

Anzen’s full suite of security services boasts end-to-end security to all types of organizations, no matter how high or low their risk of data theft is. Our team believes in one exclusive solution that mitigates cyber risks and threats as well as their impact, upon occurrence, for all businesses.

Connect with one of our representatives today to deploy a comprehensive, far-reaching suite of services for strengthening your organization’s cybersecurity against evolving attacks.?