No one likes a hacked account. Am I right? A hacked account can result in financial loss, identity theft, or just a whole lot of wasted time. None of which is fun. But unfortunately, you don’t have too much control over what is or is not hacked. All you have control over is the aftermath. So, if you happen to find yourself on the receiving end of a data breach, here’s what you should remember.
Notify Appropriate Parties
When a company gets hacked, they need to take appropriate actions. In some cases, this may mean notifying authorities and in other situations, it might be necessary for legal proceedings if there was identity theft or other cybersecurity breaches involved with the attack on their system. The United Kingdom has passed laws that require notifying individuals to be notified of a security breach. Notify impacted parties (customers) about the situation once you've determined that an inquiry is warranted.
Secure Your Operations
Get your system protected immediately by removing any faulty hardware or software that could cause an infected system. There are two kinds of data breaches. Make sure the same thing happens. Mobilizing the breach response group will stop the further loss and damage of data. The steps you must take depend largely on the nature of the breach and business structure. Identify experts and develop disciplinary action plan in a consolidated manner. Depending on the size of a business, it could involve forensics, law and data science, information technologies, operations, human resources communication, investors, and managers and management. Keep your data safe.
Fix Vulnerabilities
Invest in the services provided. Ensure you are not using a password that could potentially be used by a provider to gain access. The sooner you get around to doing this, the better off you’ll be. If you change your logins before anyone gets inside your account, then obviously they won’t be able to get inside your account at all. Even if they manage to crack your credentials, it won’t do them any good. Those credentials will be old by that time As an extra precaution make sure your service provider takes all possible steps to ensure no further breaches occur. Unless your service provider says there's been a security breach, verify the issue is actually fixed. Make sure you have the correct network segmentation. When you created the network, you probably segmented the network for a purpose where an attack against one website would not have caused an attack against one website or server. Contact your forensic specialists if you believe that the segmentation strategy worked in the breach.
Emails
When criminals hack their way into a database, they can stand to take a lot of information. Some valuable. Some not. But one of the things they will likely gather is your email address. And surprisingly, if they have your email address, they don’t need much else to send a rather legit phishing email your way. But your email address isn’t the only thing they might have. In all likelihood, they probably have a few personal details, as well. Because of this, you need to be wary of any emails you receive from a company after they’ve been hacked. Think twice about clicking links, downloading attachments, or fulfilling any requests – even if it looks 100% legitimate.
Credit Report
Again, hackers can stand to take a lot of information about you after a breach. If they have enough of the right information, they can potentially steal your identity. After a breach, monitor your credit report carefully. Depending on the severity of the breach and the type of company breached, there might be free credit monitoring services offered. However, if there aren’t, you can always create a free account on Credit Karma.
Credit Cards
If you any have financial information tied to your account, then you’ll have to keep a close eye on your bank statements, as well. You may even need to request a replacement for any credit card used or saved on the site. Keep in mind, this doesn’t just apply for websites like Target and Amazon – where purchasing products is the sole purpose. It could be a site like LinkedIn, who gives you the option to pay for a higher-level membership.
