As it is said that everything has positive as well as negative effects, the technological world has progressed to such a level that restricting oneself from the use of technology is not possible. For this reason, everyone’s personal as well as professional information is at stake. Hacking and stealing information of the users from various companies is not a new phenomenon and due to this fact companies must have to be ready in order to respond against a security breach. Even though each company never want to go through such a situation but planning strategies for such incidents is vital in this era.

Here is the list of all the things you need to do in response to a security breach.

1. Relax and devise a plan:

The first thing you need to do is relax and don’t be frighten or scared instead devise a plan to get rid of this situation. Assemble a team that is capable to handle the situation, the task force must include a leader who is responsible to take action against the breach. Chief risk officer can be a great leader and other team players should be from different areas like IT and finance.

2. Cause and restriction of the breach:

The company must be aware of the cause that led to the security breach, either it was due to the weak security system or not. However, as soon as the breach is discovered the owner must install patches to settle technology flaws. The network access of the computers that have been infected should be disabled and quarantined. Other than that the passwords of the accounts must be reset. You can use Incident response playbook in such situations.

3. Evaluate the problem:

The most important step is to evaluate the losses that the company has witnessed as a result of the security breach. As the company has been hacked, a survey about how much data and information has been taken, and how it can be used against the company. If exact analysis about the losses is not possible then estimation must be done. For doing so, the company must have a strong IT department, if this is not the case then the company can hire IT services to resolve the issue.

4. Inform the customers and others:

A good way to respond to the breach and to retain the customers is to issue a notification about the problem. Your company has been victimized and you have become weak in front of the customers. So to refrain from any further loses, speak truth to the customer, employees and partners. Inform them about what has been taken so they can take preventative measures.

5. Future protection:

It is high time now to take preventative measures as this type of incident cannot be forgiven if it happens again. For this purpose, devise a security plan and test your fix. Bring together the best people and hack your security system to test its authenticity.

If you witness a data security breach then some steps should be taken immediately so that minimum harm is done and the company meets less reputational damage. Make sure that you plan your action properly for effective results.