How to Recover From Your Business Being Hacked

How to recover from your business being hackedStarting a business comes with a lot of responsibilities. Besides making sure that every process is running smoothly, that workers are getting on well while working in a comfortable environment, you are also in charge of your customer’s data and much other important information that you cannot share with the rest of the world, especially hackers. Even though you can attempt to protect your business, you can never know for sure if you’re going to be hacked or not. Moreover, there are certain instances when it’s almost impossible or at least not so obvious that you’ve been hacked. Thus, you need to know what steps to take in case your business becomes a victim of hackers.

Any kind of business can be hacked, and your mid-tier business is no exception. Basically, any company that collects data is in danger. If you happen to become a victim of hackers, here is how you can recover from that.

Identity the attack

It’s impossible to recover from an attack unless you know for sure that it’s occurred. That is why you need to learn how to identify such situations. The big problem is that in many cases, it is hard to tell whether you’ve been hacked or not. There are no tell-tale signs of that, and it can take up to a few months before you realize the real disaster. Though, there are a few signs that can tell you that there is a problem. There are spam emails from your account, a lagging computer, pop-up windows that cannot be closed and strange programs or websites that are asking for your credentials.

Investigate the scope

The next step of the process involves trying to find out how many computers have been affected. If you have a cyber-security expert that can help you on your team, now it would be a good time to put their skills to good use. They will be able to tell you exactly what type of attack has happened, conduct a malware analysis and tell you which documents have been compromised. They could also inform you whether that attack was a mass-produced one or a unique one.

Prevent future attacks

After turning off the internet, you can proceed to reinstall programs and recover data. Nonetheless, in order to do that, you need master discs for genuine programs, and may need to get in touch with private cloud providers, whose services can offer benefits including a custom built private cloud infrastructure. Storing data and backing it up regularly on the cloud is the best way to make your business work seamlessly. Data can be accessed at any time and stored in a matter of seconds.

Communicate breaches effectively

Lastly, you should know that communication with your workers and customers is critical. Experts claim that communicating this matter to your customers is a way of building trust and maybe even preventing future attacks from happening. However, this step can depend on the type of data that has been compromised. Make sure you break the news to your partners, customers, and vendors as a legal obligation.

In conclusion, it is important to note that every business is at risk of being hacked, regardless of their size or reputation. Being vulnerable can be terrifying, but knowing how to react in that situation is definitely important.

Author: Mark Cavanagh

Mark Cavanagh is a Social Media and Digital Marketing enthusiast and a serial guest blogger on several blogs. He is also a lifelong Manchester United fan!