Organizations across all sectors rely on technology to run their businesses. It is a vital component that is necessary to handle nearly every aspect of the day-to-day workings of any business. With the presence of this technological integration comes the risk of cybersecurity threats. It can be a company’s worst nightmare to find that they have been the victim of a cyber attack. With reputation, revenue, and customers’ personal information at stake, it’s critical that every organization be prepared to identify and respond to security incidents immediately. Cyber attacks can cause immediate damage, so rapid response is crucial. Since it’s impossible to predict the future, every organization should assume that they are at risk for hacking and they should plan accordingly. This involves a proactive approach that can help mitigate risks and minimize damage. Here are just a few reasons why every organization should have an incident response plan in place.
Protect Yourself From a Data Breach
The last thing any company wants is for sensitive information to get into the wrong hands. Should this happen, your company could be held for ransom if a hacker depolys ransomware to obtain private information. Having an incident response plan in place can help your organization proactively protect your data. Protecting data through an IR plan involves various procedures such as implementing secure backups, creating security alerts to detect malicious activity, proper identity and access management to avoid insider attacks, and continuous patch management.
Protect Your Reputation and Consumer Trust
Consumers want to know that their information is secure when dealing with an organization and a data breach could severely harm an organization’s reputation. Customers are likely to take their business elsewhere if they are impacted by a company’s data breach. For larger companies that are publicly traded organizations, a data breach could even affect their relationships with investors and shareholders. For this reason, organizations should be well equipped to handle any potential cyber attacks and data breaches immediately to minimize its impact on consumers.
Protect Your Assets
According to a recent study, the average data breach costs $3.6 million. Not only is your organization at risk of potential revenue loss from ransom costs, but stock prices tend to plummet after a data breach, costing some companies millions. You can safeguard your organization from a potential financial loss with an adequate IR plan. The quicker your company can detect and respond to a security breach, the less likely it will have such a significant financial impact on the organization.
Who Should Use an Incident Response Plan?
An incident response plan can help IT staff detect, respond to, and recover from network security breaches. These plans protect organizations from cybercrime, data breaches, and service outages that could impact daily operations. While certain industries are required to develop and implement IR plans, it is recommended that every industry, from financial to healthcare to education, have some sort of IR plan in place. As mentioned above, security breaches could cost companies millions of dollars in lost revenue. It is even estimated that
60% of small to medium sized companies go out of business within six months of a data breach. At the very least, any organization that is affected by a cyber attack can expect some sort of business interruption or loss.
A sufficient IR plan involves a proactive approach to protect an organization from security threats as well as a comprehensive response plan for dealing with a hack, should one occur. If your organization doesn’t have an IR plan in place, let Contextual Security be an important extension to your team and your IR plans success.
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