Hacking, security breaches and data theft are not laughing matters. However, people in the IT security industry often joke there are two types of computer systems—those that have been breached and those that will be breached. As hackers get more sophisticated and data theft becomes more lucrative, more systems are breached every day. It very likely is a case of not IF, but WHEN a data breach will occur. Therefore, you should consider your response to a data breach now so that you can plan to react coolly and calmly if something does occur.
Types of breaches
For purposes of this post, we are focusing on two types of breaches. First is the unauthorized intrusion by a third-party into your own computer systems resulting in the loss or theft of data. This type of incident might include actual, physical access to your systems, hacking from the outside or even theft from the inside, such as an employee copying files onto a memory stick and taking them home. The second involves unauthorized access into the systems of a third-party wherein your data stored with that third party was compromised. This might include the situation where your credit card payment processor gets hacked and the hackers obtain information about your customers’ credit cards and other personal information.
Stop the bleeding