Cybersecurity is a risk impacting businesses of all sizes. You may, at any time, become a victim of a cyberattack. The entire city of St. Cloud was a victim of a cyberattack in March 2024, and United Healthcare was another recent victim.
Both of these entities have extreme cybersecurity policies in place that are designed to prevent such attacks.
If you’re a victim of an attack, the best thing that you can do is execute an incident response plan – if you have one in place. Unfortunately, many companies do not have a plan in place that allows them to respond in a timely, professional manner.
As a company specializing in Miami cybersecurity, we recommend that every business have an incident response plan that includes:
1. Designate an Incident Response Team
Do you have an incident response team? If not, it’s time to assemble one. You want a team of cybersecurity professionals who will be responsible for:
- Implementing security measures
- Assessing damage
- Carrying out your response plan
But if you’re hiring a company to handle these security measures, you’ll need someone internally who is responsible for contacting your cybersecurity team. Internal teams do not need this level of contact because they’re often the ones who identify that an attack took place.
If you have company policies and procedures, be sure to add a designated person or position responsible for contacting the security agency.
2. Create the Response Plan Following a Five-Step Framework
Every response plan will vary, but a general five-step plan will include the following elements:
- Identify the breach. You should have systems in place that monitor your network and can pinpoint when an attack occurs.
- Containment measures. An attack can become progressively worse if allowed to persist and spread through the network. Your containment measures should isolate the threat so that it doesn’t get any worse.
- Eradication. You know a threat exists and have contained it. Now, you must remove the threat from all networks and devices.
- Recovery. Vital files, systems and databases may have been impacted by the attack. Your recovery plan should allow you to reinstate your network and file systems to the same state as before the attack with as little data loss as possible.
- Analysis. What can you learn from the attack? If an attack is a success, there is always a lesson to be learned. You have a vulnerability that must be patched and corrected. Identify this weakness and prevent recurrence in the future.
If you follow this basic framework, you’ll have an incident response plan that you can rely on. Your plan should also include notification to clients or customers who may have had their data impacted.
3. Test the Plan
Your plan is in place, but will it work? You won’t know without testing it. You should have a thorough test that walks through each step in the plan, finds weaknesses and allows you to strengthen your security as a result.
Cybersecurity risks will always exist so long as there is financial gain to be made by attackers. If you have an incident response plan in place, it will make it easier to respond if you do become a victim.