How to Prepare for A Cyber Attack

The frequency of cyber-attacks is growing. The cyber-attacks are more sophisticated, and the consequences of the breach are dire. Protecting against cybersecurity threats is not enough for companies. Hackers who are determined have proved that with careful planning, persistence, and commitment to breaching a company’s data, they can struggle their way to get a hold of the information they want.

Companies just like Digital Defense Incorporated does, need to come up with cyber incident response plans or come up with existing disaster recovery plans to mitigate the cyber-attacks or/and prevent and avoid a data breach. The most vulnerable organizations are small businesses because they do not often have the right resources to prevents themselves.

There is a study that indicated that close to 60% of small businesses would close in a 6-month window after a cyber-attack. Today, you need to come up with a plan that will help you to protect, prevent, and recover once a cyberattack hits.

Protecting your company against internal compromise

Most organizations protect themselves from external threats and not from internal threats, which accounts for 80% of the security problems. Some of the common internal threats include abuse of proprietary or confidential information and disruption of security protocols and measures.

Organizations can get the same damage from internal attacks just like from an outside attack. It is therefore important for companies to protect themselves from threats that employees pose to the company. For an organization to protect itself from internal attacks, it has to limit the access to information.

When a business grants access to sensitive information and keeps it on a need-to-know basis, then the company will be in a better state of securing its data from internal threats. Backing up information and logging events, along with employee education on the safe internet and email practices are crucial steps that an organization needs to protect itself against a security breach.

Attack mitigation plans

In the same way that an employee can be a threat to the organization’s data security, the employee should also be involved in the post-attack process. All the company’s departments need to be trained on how to relate with clients once the cyber-attack hits the company. The departments should also be ready to work with the legal team to address the effects of the attack.

Effective cyber response plans are the ones that are customized to the needs of the organization, and they should also involve the employees and their roles in cybersecurity.

Draft, update and implement the cybersecurity plans

Cybersecurity, just as technology, is evolving on a daily basis, making it essential for companies to prevent and predict potential cyber-attacks before they occur. Proactivity needs to happen on the drafting, implementation, and updating of a company’s cybersecurity plans. For a company to test its cybersecurity plan, they need to conduct an internal audit or simulate a breach which will help to look for strengths and weaknesses in the plan and to build confidence when a real cyber-attack happens.