How To Create a Cybersecurity Recovery Plan?

In this day and age, running your own business is very unlike what it used to be a few decades ago.

Modern capitalistic environments encourage a Darwinian model of the market economy on a previously unheard-of scale, resulting in a brutal and never-ending competition between the business rivals, all desperate to secure their share of clients and opportunities for growth.

Customers themselves are much pickier about the services they get, in no small part thanks to the proliferation of the Internet and the convenience it introduced.

The deep changes have also affected business security.

Gone are the days when the biggest threat to the safety of your company was a deranged lunatic or a corporate spy.

Nowadays, an experienced hacker can unleash a number of debilitating cyber-attacks on your enterprise and damage it thoroughly – all from the safety of their home, half a planet away.

To stand a chance after such an intrusion, you need to take several steps to create a cybersecurity recovery plan, including investing in layered protection, implementing a BCM system, testing all most likely scenarios, and tracking integral recovery metrics.

Follow these tips and sleep well knowing that your company is now a much harder nut to crack and destroy!

Implement a BCM System

Business Continuity Management System is a relatively new concept, but it has evolved into a vital part of any company’s security strategy. Its primary objective is to create a whole emergency response plan, which will help your company survive an incident and avoid any serious damage.

Because cyber-attacks can range from a simple server crash to a total network collapse, you need to be ready for any eventuality.

This means having a thorough understanding of your business’s vital assets, including both human and technological resources. 

The BCM system will help you put together a comprehensive plan that will cover all the potential risks and outline the steps that need to be taken in order to minimize the damage.

Apart from that, the BCM will also help you get your business back up and running as soon as possible after an incident.

Having such a system in place is a must for any company that wants to protect its digital assets and maintain its competitive edge in the modern market.

Invest in Layered Protection

The crucial thing you need to understand is that many of the security breaches are a result of a failure of your company’s bottom line: poor internal controls, inefficient governance, and lax management oversight.

However, even if you set up all lines of defence to the best of your abilities, there is still the chance that hackers will find their way into your network, so you need to cover your back with a multi-layered protection system.

It might be prudent to use a range of different security tools, including firewalls and anti-virus software, as well as IDS solutions to become aware quicker. Make sure to keep them up to date with the latest patches and OS upgrades.

Moreover, train your employees in cybersecurity measures.

They are the first line of defence for any potential intrusion, so make them understand the importance of their role in protecting your business from cyber-attacks.

If they treat your c-sec training sessions as an afterthought, try to incentivize them to take the matter at hand seriously, possibly by introducing a cash bonus for finishing such courses with exemplary results.

Additionally, store sensitive information on encrypted drives.

Experts working for nfina.com can explain how cloud computing has brought a new layer to cybersecurity. It allows access to business data from any device that is connected to the internet. However, this can be a double-edged sword as it also increases the risk of cyber-attacks and data breaches.

Test All Most Likely Scenarios

It’s one thing to create a cybersecurity recovery plan and another thing to test it thoroughly.

To make sure your layered protection and BCM systems are properly set up, try to replicate some of the most likely scenarios, so you can see how they would play out in practice.

Here are some of the common cyber-attacks you might face.

  • DDoS attacks – you might want to run a simulation to see if your network’s bandwidth can handle an onslaught of simultaneous requests coming from tens of thousands of different locations. If you can’t cope with an attack like that, consider investing in a more powerful firewall solution.
  • Malware infiltration – it might be a good idea to test your computer systems for software vulnerabilities. Try to install spam emails on your employees’ computers and see if they get infected with malware without being aware of the threat. Remember, such attacks are often hard to detect until it’s too late!
  • Data theft – a hacker might also attempt to steal your data and sell it on the darknet. Therefore, it would be wise to simulate some sort of a breach in your network and see if your employees can spot and report the intrusion in time.

Track Integral Recovery Metrics

Finally, you need to have a clear idea of how much it would cost your company to recover from a cyber-attack.

After all, it’s no good spending all that money on cybersecurity without knowing what you’re getting in return!

Therefore, it would be prudent to track your recovery metrics, so you can estimate the ROI of your efforts and make sure you’re not throwing your money away.

Here are some of the essential metrics to track:

  • Reputation loss – be aware of how much your company’s reputation is damaged as a result of each security breach.
  • Security software – try to calculate how much you spend on security software and services per year, as well as any additional expenses on network maintenance and repairs.
  • Employee training – try to track how much it costs to train new employees in cybersecurity measures, as well as their lost productivity while they’re learning.

Conclusion

As you can see, it takes considerable effort to set up a comprehensive cybersecurity recovery plan.

However, if you do so, your company becomes much harder to crack and destroy.

In the end, it’s a win-win situation: you lower your risks and increase your chances of recovering from a security breach efficiently. So, use the tips provided in this article and keep your business secure.

Good luck!