Businesses large and small are implementing new tools and technologies every day to keep up with customer demands, which means IT systems need to be flexibly dynamic, resilient, and reliable. However, no technology is perfect and every business should have a plan in place to avoid crippling downtime costs. Recovering from a disaster is a challenge that enterprises must be prepared for if they want to continue their operations and stay relevant.
What is business continuity and disaster recovery?
Disaster recovery (DR) outlines how IT and non-IT employees should react in the event of a disaster, taking into consideration all affected tech and business-drivers. A cybersecurity disaster is one of the worst setbacks your business can face, and you can't treat it the same as a flood or fire.
To maintain business continuity in the face of a massive data breach, you need to have a printed cybersecurity DR plan finished within the next three months that includes specific steps to address each of the following concerns.
1. Stopping further data leaks
There are a million things to worry about when confidential data leaks out of the company's network and trickles into the hands of malicious users. Rather than trying to tackle all issues at once, the best thing to do is create a list of priorities. Number one is putting a tourniquet on the breach.
Your data doesn't have to be sold or published online to constitute a breach. Once someone has hacked your network, you've basically been breached. Before going after the perpetrators or recovering what you lost, your number one priority must be stopping further leaks. Our experts suggest that you make sure your security DR plan has these steps in place to lock down all your data to stem the losses:
- Confirm what data has been compromised
- Temporarily restrict the transmission of data
- Keep an eye on your databases
- Limit users’ privileges
- Check your workstations' cybersecurity solutions
2. Recovering lost data
Most breaches don't damage your data; they just copy/steal/publicize it. However, if you've been hit with ransomware or any other cyberattack that removes access to your data, your second priority is getting it back. Backing up your data to the cloud is the single best measure you can take to recover from a cyberattack that damages or destroys your data. With F1 Solutions’ local and off-site backup storage solutions and management systems you can rest easy.
3. Managing PR
The state of Alabama recently enacted a breach notification law that requires breached businesses to notify affected parties within 45 days of discovering a breach, but you'll be much better off if you can do it faster than that. Your security disaster recovery plan should include templated responses and PR strategies so you can respond as quickly as possible. To ensure that communications of the DR plan is solid, you should:
Advise staff not to discuss the disaster until they're given the green light. Updates should be official and handled by a small team to avoid misunderstandings.
Remind employees that social media is for personal use only and should not contain comments or information referencing the breach or their job. Even if the comment is deleted, the internet inevitably finds a way to uncover it.
Identify a spokesperson. Understand your own staff is going to be panicky, so you need an experienced leader managing the crisis.
4. Apply cybersecurity updates
Basic security best practices like updating software and applying patches (when available) are major sources of data breaches -- failure to do both leads to devastating disasters.
Both for the sake of your business's reputation and its general business continuity, the last step in your security disaster recovery plan should be to revise your cybersecurity practices so this type of breach never happens again. The cybercrime industry is growing at an alarming pace, and learning from every mistake is essential to staying ahead.
Businesses must be prepared to recover from a disaster as quickly as possible, and the best way to do that is with a business continuity plan and 24/7 IT support.
At F1 Solutions, we provide you with on-site and off-site backups, regular cybersecurity audits, and disaster recovery assistance. We will also have a qualified technician review your backups weekly and correct any errors that get in the way of a full data backup.
Call us now for more information on top-of-the-line backups and disaster recovery planning. F1 Solutions will make sure your business keeps running when disasters strike.
