Cyber Attacks: Recovery and Prevention

There has been a lot of publicity out there about cyber crime and its devastating impact on businesses over the last few months.  High profile organisations made the headlines when they have been a victim of such incidents, but it only highlighted what a risk cyber attacks pose to businesses and public sector organisations.

According to government statistics, nearly 7 in 10 large companies identified a breach in the last 12 months and nearly half of UK businesses suffered a breach or attack.

Whether you’re a small or large business, preparation and speed of action are crucially important, taking into consideration that the majority of breaches or cyber attacks are in the form of fraudulent emails.

Small businesses are most vulnerable, because they don’t always have the necessary resources to protect themselves.

Employees should be aware of how to detect suspicious activity and how to react when a cyber attack takes place.

1. Identify and contain the breach.

Many businesses are not aware of any cyber attack until hours or even days after the breach has occurred.  When an attack has been identified, you need to establish the following information:

• When did it happen?
• How has it affected customers or key stakeholders?
• What areas of the business or organisation have been affected?
• What type of attack has taken place?

Your IT department or IT support provider should be ready to act, so they can:

• Reset login details
• Deal with any affected files
• Remove files that have been installed by the attack
• Ensure the sensitivity of data is secure

2. Inform customers promptly

It is your duty and responsibility to inform customers of any risk to their data.  Larger companies and organisations who haven’t reacted quickly enough have had to deal with legal action and a damaged reputation.

3. Prevent future breaches

Make sure you have the right advice from professionals who are trained with the expertise and knowledge to help your business or organisation recover while putting the correct preventative measures in place.

4. Protect your business for the future.

Have the right in-house skills to manage third parties when such incidents occur and get a disaster recovery plan in place when the unexpected or unthinkable happens.

Like any aspect of technology, cyber security changes all the time.

Be prepared, be reactive but also be pro-active.

Your business and its customers depend on it.

Fifteen Group’s Managed IT Support agreements provide technical support and ensure your business is operating efficiently and securely.

For more information, don’t hesitate to get in touch.