Regardless of a business’ size or what industry they belong to, the threat of being hacked is always a very scary one. Hacking can cause serious damage across every single aspect of your business, so it is seriously important that if your business is hacked, you know the steps that will need to be taken. If you are not able to get a handle on the situation once it has began, you can be in huge trouble. Here are a few steps that will help:
Contact IT ASAP
If your IT team is actively monitoring your network for you, they should be aware already that something is going on. Even if you assume they know, it is always best to reach out to make sure they are on the same page so they can be ready to help you take action.
While everything depends on the situation at hand, the IT team should take steps to remove the threat before it can do harm and to hopefully prevent a hacking of this type from happening again. While some threats can easily be booted off of your network, others are harder to work with, especially if your team is lacking and doesn’t notice them immediately.
Here’s an example of a worse case possible scenario when it comes to being hacked. Your IT provider may decide that your devices will need to be wiped, which is called the nuclear option. Though, the data will be restored from the data backup. This should hopefully remove any chance of a threat getting in and stealing data from your systems. This is an easy way to mitigate damage, but we highly recommend that you get help from your provider with this, because it can lead to further damage if done incorrectly.
This can also waste time if the threat is not removed. The only way this process should be done is carefully and correctly, because there are still risks. Once it is completed, you’ll need to be absolutely sure that your protections are updated and are strong as ever, including your firewalls, spam protection, antivirus, and every other protection you have.
Don’t Go It Alone
While your staff members may be able to deal with small tech issues, hacking is an issue that you should hand over to professionals. MyTek can be a solid and reliable expert that can mitigate damage and get your system back to safety.
Be Ready To Make A Statement
If your business is affected by a cybersecurity incident, you will need to disclose it! Clarity and concision should be at the forefront of these conversations with your clients. They will need to be filled in on what has happened, how it may affect them, the damage that was done and the damage that was avoided. They should also be told about the next steps and what needs to still be done. Not doing so often results in far greater damage.
This can cause you to lose clients, even if they don’t practice the best security in their personal lives, they are counting on you to keep their data safe. This kind of situation often scares clients away. In some ways, they are not wrong because you are accountable for the situation that has happened and this means you should be upfront and forthcoming about it to everyone who needs to know. While every state and every industry has different rules about data privacy, you’ll need to figure out how the disclosure should be done.
Be Prepared Before It Happens
If a breach has already happened, these tips won’t help you, but we hope they encourage you to come up with plans that will help your business be prepared for any situation, like being hacked. Take the initiative to protect your business before it is too late! For more assistance or help, contact MyTek today at 623-312-2440.