A security breach is more common than you think and possibly one of the quickest rising threat for a business and its reputation. Apart from targeting high-profile businesses, attackers find small businesses more tempting and that’s the reason, out of 10 data branches, 9 are from small organizations. Well, one of the biggest reason behind targeting small business is lack of awareness and resources to prevent and handle a data breach.
In this post, we’re going to discuss how to handle a data breach and things you should know to prevent them.
How To Handle A Data Breach?
It is very unfortunate if you encounter a data breach. Don’t Panic! Just keep in mind these three things to handle data breaches. Let’s have a look at them!
Act Swiftly
The most important thing that you need to know once you discover that you have been victimized is how to react in that situation. Data breach needs immediate attention to handle it smoothly and smartly. Firstly, focus on the vulnerabilities to find out whether the data has been corrupted or not. You need to work on it to recover your significant data asap. You can execute your complete data recovery plan to recover your data.
Be Open and Honest
As a data breach news is never ideal, it affects the data, profit, and reputation of the company. It is important to inform people those who are affected by the data breach so that they can also perform their own self-protecting measures. Because hiding or not disclosing the news or the mishap can cost you more than you think. For instance, in 2017, when Uber decided to stay quiet about the data breach, which targeted over 57 million people within a year, costed the company in great magnitude. When the news broke, there was a public outcry that damaged Uber’s reputation to the core that resulted in 30% loss in the same quarter.
Things You Should Know to Prevent a Data Breach
Here are some of the essential things that you should keep in mind to avert and handle a data breach!
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Do Not Use Default Passwords
One of the most important things is to change your default passwords as soon as you get the access. There are the people who use the default password to access their personal and financial data and they don’t feel like changing the password. However, keeping the same and default password provides an advantage to cybercriminals to exploit your machine. Moreover, just like the machine which doesn’t have any password, likewise, a machine that has a default password is tempting to attackers. So, it is always recommended to create a hard to guess password which is a combination of alpha-numeric keys including special charterers.
Make a Complete Data Recovery Plan to Recover Your Data
Whether your system has been targeted or not, you should always be prepared for the worst and have a solution to recover your data. In case, your machine is compromised, you should have a complete data recovery plan to get your data back as soon as possible. In fact, your recovery plan should be discussed with your management to educate other employees about do’s and don’ts at the time of the attack.
Regularly Scan Your Network
It is recommended running a scan on your network on daily basis to find out about the loopholes and to find out rogue equipment in the network (if you’ve any). You can rely on third-party software, professional tools, and net view command to scan the network. You can also use software like NetView to do the same.
Do Not Use Same Passwords
Keeping the same password over and over will help the intruders to get to your machine without any trouble. Moreover, using the same password makes your system vulnerable. Just the way using the same password for all the accounts will help attackers to get into all the information, likewise keeping a regular ID and password will benefit others to compromise on your privacy and security.
Track Your Incoming and Outgoing Network Traffic
Just like technology, malware has developed and used various technologies to its advantage so as not to get detected easily. Fortunately, you can avert malware and virus by tracking your incoming and outgoing network traffic on regular basis. In fact, you’ll get a notification in case the outgoing connections grow than the regular number of connections. It can be anything, it could be email engine which is currently stealing your sensitive data.
Perform Security Practices Throughout Company’s Operations
It is important to stick to the security practices in every department, be it agent or management head. In fact, the essential process like data storage policies, employee exit policies, and remote project control must be evaluated carefully.
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Regularly Audit Security Logs
As security logs are considered as a crucial component of the IT security, so it is a great habit that system administrator frequently checks system logs.
Now, you know how to handle a data breach and things you should know to prevent a data breach. We hope these hacks will help you to prevent data breach.
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