How to Respond to a Cyber Attack

If your business was hit with a cyber attack today, would you be prepared? This threat is something that has been looming for years and is a very real concern for anyone operating online. Cyber attacks can produce devastating results, but having a solid response plan can help to prevent things from getting worse. Here are the 5 steps to take to respond to a cyber attack on your business.

Risk mitigation

• Log out of all emails and accounts to prevent access from devices
• Disconnect all wifi connections and unplug the router
• Disconnect and shut down equipment using wifi or internet connection
• Remove all connections to the server
• Stay in the present moment, focus on mitigating the current risk

Notification

• Notify remote workers to log out and disconnect
• Notify other locations to disconnect from impacted servers
• Notify your cyber insurance provider
• Notify your attorney or comparable party
• Notify third-party vendors with direct or indirect server access

Web resources

• Notify your web hosting provider
• Notify any third-party manager of resources
• Change your website to a static front page

Revenue restoration

• Identify additional threats to revenue
• Consider alternate revenue streams
• Create a short-term revenue restoration plan

Investigate

• Identify all lost data and resources
• Identify all forms of revenue loss, current and future
• Consider indirect losses, such as PR risk
• Log all of the activities post cyber attack
• Prepare for cyber attacks like you would a fire drill

While a cyber attack can be a scary thing, having a response plan in place can help to ease your anxiety and keep you focused on what needs to be done. This is, of course, not an exhaustive list and there are many other steps that you should consider taking in the event of a cyber attack. However, this should provide a solid foundation for you to build off of and create your own response plan.

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