Hello, this is David Quick from Total Cover IT®. And today we’re going to be talking about incident response plans.
So what’s an incident response plan? An incident response plan is an organized approach in the event of a cyber attack. Now, this may be an incident where just one computer was compromised, but no breach happens. Or it could be a breach on your entire network where the hackers got to your data. So, incident response plans handle all those eventualities.
Now, if you’re in a regulated industry, like medical or financial, you absolutely must have an incident response plan. But even if you’re not subject to compliance, you still should have one. Because if you don’t, and you get hacked, the implications can be devastating to your business. All of your important data compromised and all kinds of negative implications to your business.
Now, here are some things to consider when developing incident response plan. Not a complete list, but at least it will get you started. First off, think about physical access to your office, or offices, or buildings. Also, think about what happens if your mobile devices get compromised, such as your laptop or your tablet. What happens to then?
Also, if you take credit cards, then you are subject to compliance, PCI. So consider that in your planning. Also, think about what happens if, in fact, you have a data breach, hackers got through that and got your data. What then?
Another thing to consider is threat monitoring. This is different from defensive technologies like antivirus, for example. Theses are tools and processes and people that are reviewing your network for signs of suspicious activity. So, think about threat monitoring. Also, figure out who you are going to call when the incident happens when you discover the incident. Who are you going to call? What professionals will be involved in incident response?
Also, who on your team will be responsible for coordinating incident response?
So, it’s quite a bit to think about for a proper incident response plan. There’s a lot more to it than that. So, I would highly advise that you talk to your trusted IT professional to help guide you to get the proper plan in place. And they’ll even help you to practice it to make sure you have it right for when the time comes so that you’re properly prepared.
If you have any questions about this, feel free to reach out to me. I’m David Quick from Total Cover IT® where “our I is on your T®”. Thanks for listening.
