3 Reasons Your Business Needs an Incident Response Plan
How much does a cyber-attack really cost a business?
Well, according to the Annual Cyber Threat Report for the financial year of 2021-2022, the average cost per cybercrime report has increased to over $39,000 for a small business, $88,000 for a medium business and more than $62,000 for a large business.
This just shows that cyber-attacks and malicious intent online have been growing in frequency and scale, posing severe risks and impacting how organisations operate.
So, while most businesses today have already begun implementing their own preventive measures to protect IT infrastructure, systems and data against cyber security threats, it’s also crucial that an incident response plan is in place should the worst happen.
Basically, an incident response plan ensures business continuity and effective disaster recovery.
That’s because an incident response plan prevents you from being caught off-guard when cyber security incidents occur so you can take prompt action to minimise the damage. That makes this plan a very important one.
Let’s explore incident response planning and how to implement one in your business.
What is an Incident Response Plan?
An incident response plan is a detailed action plan that guides your team on how to effectively detect, respond to and recover from cyber security attacks and data breach incidents.
In every particular scenario, your incident response plan should provide:
- what security measures must be immediately taken
- who is needed to solve the crisis
- what are their responsibilities
- how to isolate affected areas
- what backup must be activated
- how to communicate the incident to stakeholders
- and so much more
The goal of the incident response plan is to control the problem and ensure your operations aren’t disrupted in a way that negatively affects your business and your customers.
3 reasons your business needs an Incident Response Plan
An incident response plan equips you with best practices for any risks, online threats or cyber security issues – before, during and after they occur.
With an incident response plan, your team will be able to intervene in the best way possible to reduce downtime and restore any affected systems.
To understand its true value, here are 3 key reasons why your business needs to have an incident response plan prepared and ready to execute if the time comes:
- To have an organised, quicker and better mitigation approach to cyber issues
An incident response plan enables you to efficiently delegate your people, technology, tools and other resources. This prevents delays in remediating the problem at hand that can cause further vulnerabilities and damages.
This also ensures your team won’t feel lost when deciding what to do – right from prevention all the way to post-incident disaster recovery strategies.
- To strengthen and safeguard data security – today and in the future
With an incident response plan in place, it will be easier for your team to expose weaknesses, threats and areas of concern in your IT infrastructure. Knowing these things will help you patch up your systems, prepare backups and manage access to ensure your data won’t fall into the wrong hands.
An incident response plan also gives you peace of mind that whatever data security issue your organisation encounters today won’t happen again in the future.
- To comply with rules and regulations
Having an incident response plan also empowers your organisation to remain compliant with laws, policies and regulations – especially when your operations involve having access to a range of client information.
By dealing with cyber security attacks using a reliable incident response plan, you can also avoid getting involved with legal issues and matters that can be costly for your business and damaging to your reputation.
Do you want to have an Incident Response Plan for your business?
At Centrix, we believe that having a well-thought-out incident response plan is like having a safety net for your business.
Because when it comes to cyber-attacks and data breaches, it’s not usually IF – it’s WHEN. And when the time comes, your team need an action plan on what to do.
So, just in case security controls fail to completely prevent and constrain any known or unknown threat that comes your way, your business and customers have an extra layer of protection so that the consequences are minimised.
Fortunately, you can rely on our IT Continuity solution to prepare your business for unforeseen circumstances. We keep your IT services stable, minimise downtime and data loss, as well as ensure rapid recovery to ensure business continuity.
We also have Cloud Backup and Disaster Recovery services to maintain the safety of your data and systems.
Our team at Centrix even provides Cyber Security Awareness Training for organisations of all sizes. Through proper training, we promote accountability amongst your team, ensuring that each employee is aware of their duties and responsibilities when it comes to your company’s cyber security.
Let Centrix support your IT and cyber security needs
Our team at Centrix is always ready – we help small businesses all the way up to corporate organisations succeed by managing, supporting and protecting critical IT infrastructure.
Backed by our extensive knowledge and expertise, Centrix is here to assist your organisation with comprehensive IT Connectivity and Collaboration Service Packages, Cloud IT, Cyber security Protection, Managed IT Services and other IT Solutions.
So, are you ready to thrive in today’s digital landscape?
To learn more about our Managed IT services, book an IT Health Check or contact us today.