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Data breach anticipation: Preparing for a security incident
It seems not a single day goes by without the news of an organization falling victim to hackers. Nearly every individual has been affected by a breach, whether they are the employee of a business that has been infiltrated by hackers, or a customer that has had their sensitive information compromised. In order to mitigate the effects of a malware-induced data breach, businesses big and small must learn to anticipate security incidents and carry out preparations accordingly.
Although companies may think that they are currently ready to deal with a breach, Greg Garcia, FSSCC executive director, told Bank Info Security that developing data protections must be an ongoing process.
"As long a there are changes in technologies and solutions, as long as we continue to innovate in our products and services, we will continue to have to innovate in our defenses against the exploits used to attack those technologies," Garcia said. "That is the challenge year over year."
Frequency and costs on the rise
Even as breaches continue to occur more frequently and cost companies an increasing amount, many are still unprepared to deal with the fallout. Recent research from The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse found that last year alone, there were 602 security incidents in the U.S., according to LawFuel. These breaches compromised more than 55 million sensitive data records, each costing $188.
"If thousands or even millions of customer records are affected, the damages may be substantial - this is repeatedly evidenced as more and more well-known companies experience data breaches," LawFuel stated. "The likelihood of a data breach and the risks involved are so high that the possibility can no longer be ignored - companies must take the initiative the reduce the likelihood of a breach and to reduce the the impact of a breach when the inevitable occurs."
Tips for anticipating and preparing for a breach
Although LawFuel pointed out that data breaches can come as a result of a range of different causes - malware infection, intentional insider leaks, lost or stolen devices, negligence - and are therefore very difficult to predict and prevent, there are certain steps enterprises can take to prepare themselves.
First, the organization must understand the sensitive data it owns and perform a risk assessment of this content. With this information in-hand, companies can work to better protect their records with authentication credentials, monitoring and encryption.
The enterprise must also train their employees so each has a full understanding of the security measures in place. LawFuel also recommended establishing a response team to take charge in the event that a breach does occur.
When the organization takes steps to prepare itself, it can quickly mitigate the threat as well as the damage felt by their clients.
"[O]rganizations need to prioritize preventing future breaches and better manage post-breach response," said Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder of the Ponemon Institute, according to Help Net Security. "In addition to improving technical safeguards, it's clear that companies also should focus more attention on meeting the needs of affected customers that suffer a breach."
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