Keeping Your Organization Ahead of a Cyber Attack
Imagine – you turn on your computer tomorrow morning, and all your organization's files are encrypted. You discover this only to find out that hackers are demanding a $100,000 ransom within 72 hours to get your data back. How do you respond?
This scenario is a real experience for too many organizations left stunned by a ransomware attack. These breaches can hurt your organization in both financial and operational areas, not to mention damage to your reputation. As an advocate for your organization, you need to get ahead of the cyber arms race then run faster. Here are just a few ways to get ahead:
Have an incident response plan
Organizations should be proactive and plan before a cyber breach occurs. This planning responsibility should not be placed solely on the IT department. Senior leadership should play an active role in incident response planning along with reviewing and refreshing the plan every year. At a minimum, engage with your insurance consultant as well as breach coach and IT forensics when testing your plans.
Train your employees
The weakest link in any cybersecurity protocol is always the people – and this vulnerability has only multiplied with remote workforces. Regular training and internal phishing campaigns elevate the awareness of these social engineering attacks.
Cyber coverage in your insurance policies
The insurance industry's response to cybersecurity continues to evolve which means no two cyber policies are alike. Organizations should work with their risk advisors to inspect changes in limit profiles, coverage language, and new additional coverages. Re-evaluate everything at every renewal and match your policy up with the latest industry standards. With all the moving parts in cyber, this full evaluation is cannot be overlooked.
You will sleep better if you follow these steps and keep an eye on new tools coming in real-time from insurance carriers, including any pre- and post-breach services, and evaluate the usefulness of these services with each update. Times change, and so should your organization’s cyber response.
