You’ve probably seen the news headlines such as “Business crippled by cyber-attack” or “Hackers cost company millions”… the facts are that studies have shown that 60% of small businesses who experience a cyber attack go out of business within 6 months of the attack1. Cyber attacks can hit a business hard. Often times there is some sort of ransom payout in order to stop the attack, however, even with no ransom, the fallout of a cyber attack could drain your bank account.
Can your company survive a cyber attack?
When it comes to surviving a cyber attack, there are two key factors:
- Prevention
- Protection
Preventing a cyber-attack starts with your staff. Proper training and procedures can help your staff spot risks and defuse any issues. The National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education has resources that businesses owners can use to help develop a training program. When developing training and procedures, lead by example and make sure your leadership team is involved.
In addition to training, there are four steps that have been laid out by the CISA, Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency, to help your company avoid and respond to cyber-attacks. These are:
Audit Your Infrastructure. What are the critical processes and operations that require an online presence? What would be compromised in the event of an attack? How would your business be affected by a cyber attack?
Develop A Plan. If your system were to malfunction or go down completely, what would you do? How does your team react to protect or isolate networks and data? Who is responsible for what?
Run The Plan. Test your security measures on a regular basis and adjust as needed. Factor in changes you make to your network or team. Consider any newly identified cyber threats and include those in the evolving plan.
Back-Up Everything. Regularly save your data. Isolate your backups from the rest of your system so that it would be vulnerable to any cyberattack that occurs.
In the event that a cyber-attack does happen, the second key factor, protection, kicks in. Having proper protection such as cyber insurance can help protect your company from the financial burden of a cyber attack.
Cyber insurance is liability coverage designed to provide coverage such as data loss and system damage, business interruption, crisis management, notification expenses, and more. Contact us today at 844-GANNONS to get the conversation started today!
