Five Steps For Building A great Small and Medium Business Cyberattack Response

Contrary to the popular belief, small to mid-sized businesses (SMBs) are frequent targets of destructive cyberattacks which have crippled many of them. Although it is the major organizations that grab the limelight when a breach occurs, according to a report from Symantec 43% of all the cyberattacks were directed against businesses with employee of strength of 250 or less. What’s disturbing is 60% of the businesses wind up in less than six months of suffering a major cyberattack.

All of this data paints a rather bleak picture of the state of security for small businesses. SMBs are being targeted regularly, and it's clear the impact of a cyberattack can be crippling. So how can we ensure that the small business community isn’t decimated by cyberattacks?

Be ready to face the worst

Why should you wait until you’ve suffered a breach to put a cyber incident response plan? Security is an investment for a safer and secure future as against a mitigation. Therefore it becomes essential to clearly lay your budget plans accordingly to get all the required resources on board. So, in case of a data breach, the team is prepared to quickly respond and fight against the onslaught.

Devil is in the details

While devising a plan that can be implemented pan-organization, it is essential to account little things too. As with security, you can never be too rigid. The threat landscape is constantly evolving, thus, you should identify key tasks, manage timelines, and document all response efforts. Always keep room for improvement and stay agile.

Count each dollar

Security tends to be a painful overhead, because the tools you want to purchase to keep your network safe are never affordable. Therefore, it makes more sense to start investing early and spread evenly as you enterprise scales up. Plan your budget over at least couple of years and not just for the current fiscal year.

Get everyone onboard

Cybersecurity plans can’t be implemented if your employees are not in the loop. You should communicate to your stakeholders and get them on the same page. If your vision for security is not shared with your staff, that vision may never see the light of day.

Revisit and refine

As the threat landscape constantly evolves, it is essential to refine your response plan along the way. The cyber response plans must incorporate new developments in the cybersecurity domain. You shouldn’t be waiting for a breach to occur. Always conduct audits and see if your employees are educated enough about your security policies.