How To Respond To A Security Issue

Incidents like data leakage and security breach seem to occur quite frequently in this age of digitalism. According to a recent study conducted by British government, well-establish banks and large organizations are not the only frequent targets of security breaches. (Magee, 2018) Almost all businesses, from small to large are prone to security threats. Fortunately, there are many effective ways to respond to all such security issues. Let’s have a look at top most recommended solutions for this digital problem:

Be Prepared

Of course, it would be best if you weren’t in the situation where you have security issues, but if you get to that stage, it would be nice if you’ve set out a plan you can follow beforehand. Be prepared to deal with all sorts of security breaches and threats by following effective security plans/protocols. (Magee, 2018) To ensure greater security of confidential data, manage the security factors beforehand and don’t compromise on data safety at all.

Keep calm and focused

If a security breach or security flaw has been detected by your security team or has come to your attention in another way, don’t panic as it’s a win-win situation. Detection of a security issue allows an organization to take effective steps to minimize the risk and possibly even repair issues before they are abused. Knowing the (potential) threat in time enables the team to work together and fight back the threat before it makes sufficient damage.

Shut down the network

If the threat is already changed into serious damage, adopt contain and respond strategy. It simply means that all affected areas of the network need to be shut down, to contain damage. (Mullins, 2005) Identify the critical systems that need to run in order to keep business activities in a right flow.

Assess the damage

Make a clear overview of affected systems, processes and people, assess the damage and take control of the situation. Make sure you understand the consequences of what has happened. This will make decision making easier, because you know what the alternative to not doing anything will be. You will need to involve technical, possible legal or PR teams to assess and recover, time to call in help. Assessment of data plays an important role in dealing with the damage done to the network.

Recover

Assessment of data leakage and security issue leads to recovery. Now you know what is damaged, get the critical systems running again, even if the data is temporarily degraded. Once you know which areas need to be fixed on priority, you may allocate essential resources to fix the problems. Backup resources can also be used to recover the lost data. (Mullins, 2005)

Maintain the reputation

Reputation maintenance is very much important for every organization, but it should not be your primary concern, your security and proper and honest communication should come first. If a security issue has been detected (and resolved), you might need to report it to partners and customers whose confidentiality was potentially compromised. Keeping everybody informed increases the reputation in terms of public relation and consumer trust.

Outsource security resources

You may also outsource effective security resources to ensure the safety of confidential data. Make sure that the safety resource itself is not prone to online threat as it will make the data susceptible to leakage. (Magee, 2018) There are tools that will give you scans from within your organization, from outside your organization (public-facing resources), which will decrease the chances of problems.

Report the breach

What mostly people don’t consider doing after a security breach is to report it to cyber-crime control authorities or other authorities, as you might be required to by law. Every business person or organization facing security issue must report the problem to the cyber-crime teams even if it has been resolved properly. It’s necessary to track down the culprits to stop it from happening again to other organizations. (Gordon James Realty, 2017)

There is no way to eliminate the possibility of security threat 100%. But, you may respond to an issue instantly to minimize the risk and also use effective tools and resources to prevent its occurrence.

Bibliography

Gordon James Realty. (2017, January 5). How to Respond to Security Threats. Retrieved May 30, 2018, from Gordon James Real Estate Services: https://gordonjamesrealty.com/resource/respond-security-threats/

Magee, T. (2018, March 26). How to respond to a security breach . Retrieved May 30, 2018, from ComputerWorld UK: https://www.computerworlduk.com/galleries/security/how-respond-security-breach-3674205/

Mullins, M. (2005, September 8). Effectively respond to a security incident with these five steps. Retrieved May 30, 2018, from Tech Republic: https://www.techrepublic.com/article/effectively-respond-to-a-security-incident-with-these-five-steps/