Page 58 - Cyber Warnings

DATA BREACH: STEPS NOT TO TAKE AFTER IT

By Vera Salauyova, PR manager at Falcongaze company

There are many recommendations on what to do after a data breach. But what shouldn’t you
do?

Has your company ever been hacked? Or have you received a notice your personal information
or your credit-card number was stolen in a data breach? If so, you're definitely not alone. The
matter of data breach, as it is said, just a matter of time.

Take for example dozens of giant companies such as Target, HomeDepot, Neiman Marcus,
Yahoo and Anthem, which have suffered huge data breaches with millions of accounts being
compromised.

If your company or you're among the millions of consumers whose sensitive information have
already been or may have been exposed in a data breach, here are four steps you SHOULDN’T
take if you know your personal information has been compromised.

Keep your head and stick to the predetermined plan

Bear in mind that not only complete unpreparedness to data leak could lead to disastrous
consequences for a company but also chaos and panic can be fatal. It has never led to anything
good. Don’t freak out and stick to the beforehand prepared response plan. The first step here is
to investigate the most likely reason of the incident.

Was it caused by a ransomware attack, malicious software intrusion, insider threat or your
negligence towards basic security rules? Once you figured out the probable reason, isolate the
affected system and immediately eliminate the reason of an attack. Finally, make sure your
system is secure.

Don’t work alone and feel free to ask for help from third- parties

If after a thorough internal investigation you are fully confident a breach has taken place,
engage third-parties to help you examine the incident and mitigate the consequences. Don’t go
it alone.

Engage legal counsel, outside investigators, public relations managers and communication
experts. All these specialists can help you conduct in-depth investigation, create a counter-
attack tactics and communicate to the media.

58 Cyber Warnings E-Magazine – July 2017 Edition
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