For the longest time, companies used a reactive methodology for their daily cybersecurity needs. In fact, we can even say that internet protection was just a fleeting thought for many entrepreneurs.
Unfortunately, with the increasing number of cyberattacks across the globe, companies could no longer turn a blind eye to this threat. They need to devise measures that would stop the issues it its track. This is how we came to proactive incident response strategy.
Nowadays, companies rely on AI-based threat hunting to detect threats and eliminate them before they can affect their systems. By using a proactive strategy and advanced software, brands can minimize external threats and prevent major losses that come with them.
How Do We Use Incident Response Strategy?
Using proxies, anti-virus programs, and VPNs is a good starting point for companies that want to safeguard their data. With the right software, you can eliminate various threats looming above your head.
However, cybersecurity doesn’t stop there. Your staff is every bit as responsible for the outcomes as they’re the ones who can give access to hackers. This is why you must also implement proper training that will teach employees how to act in different situations.
Many of your staffers, especially the older ones, don’t understand the importance of cybersecurity software or safety policies. As a result, they often fall prey to social engineering attacks. Opening the door to hackers leads to security breaches, data loss, profit loss, and massive fines.
Because of that, it’s vital that your company has a proactive incident response strategy. With this plan, you can assign responsibilities and authorization to your team members. Incident response strategy outlines the necessary steps your staffers have to take depending on a situation. That way, they can achieve the following:
Ensure Data Protection
The most important thing about a proactive incident response strategy is that it safeguards your valuable data. Whether we’re talking about client data, your future business plans, or intellectual property, hackers can jeopardize your business in numerous ways.
Short and long-term consequences of a breach are extensive. Attackers might sell your valuable data on the dark web or use it for a ransom. If hackers get a hold of users’ personal information, this can lead to identity theft and other misuse.
Reduce Financial Damage
Once the attackers steal your valuable information, they can wreak havoc. With a single move, they can jeopardize your entire financial plans for the foreseeable future. As a result of their actions, you might suffer massive fines and legal fees and waste time on forensic investigation.
If you’re heavily dependent on your IT systems, downtime can be disastrous for your business. Not only will this lead to direct loss of money, but it will indirectly affect your bottom line through loss of reputation.
Maintain Trust and Integrity
One of the things companies often overlook during and after cyberattacks is the loss of reputation. Even if the breach wasn’t your fault, the clients will still blame you for not safeguarding their sensitive information. Your company will come off as irresponsible, not caring about people who have placed their trust in its systems.
Approximately 66% of potential clients would no longer put their trust in a business that has experienced a single data breach. This gives you a zero percent chance of failure. This problem is especially damaging for publicly traded companies, as they’re always in the limelight.
How to Create an Incident Response Strategy?
Building an incident response plan will allow your organization to thwart the majority of incoming cyber threats. Not only that, but an efficient plan also includes reactive measures if you’re a victim of a data breach.
Aside from using anti-malware, residential proxy, VPN, and other systems, you need to implement a holistic approach on every level of organization. Make sure to outline all possible scenarios so your team would know how to behave in different situations.
To introduce a proper incident response plan, you need to cover the following points:
Planning and Preparation
A good incident response plan hinges on preparation. First off, you need communication channels that will allow your teams to share information and instructions in case of an attack. Through these channels, you should relay files and other documents to each staff member.
A good part of preparation is getting everyone on board. Besides your security team, your other employees need to understand what’s expected from them. For example, they need to report anything suspicious they might’ve noticed when using their devices or surfing the web.
Detection and Investigation
The speed of response mostly hinges on your staff. The faster your employees report an incident, the faster your security team can react to it. Furthermore, you need a well-defined, streamlined methodology that will cover each step of the way.
Once security team become aware of the threat, they need to rely on sophisticated AI tools to pinpoint the entry point and gather data. Proactive identification is especially vital for addressing, not only the current threat, but also future issues.
The company also has to introduce regular programs and develop a monitoring methodology for future detection. One of the more important parts of proactive incident response is finding vulnerabilities and patching them.
Threat Analysis
Most brands are too focused on minimizing the damages that they completely forget the importance of analysis. By gathering data and assessing situation, you can better understand what happened and how to prevent future attacks.
Among other things, cybersecurity specialists have to find traces of incident and detect the source. The team has to determine which tools have been used to perform the attack and find compromised devices, systems, and networks. A thorough analysis will hasten the recovery and prevent future mishaps.
Last Thoughts
Having a proactive incident response strategy will save you a lot of headaches down the line. The methodology reduces the chance of getting hacked and instructs your team on how to behave in different situations. As such, the proactive response is ideal for countering modern cybersecurity threats.
