Most business owners understand the importance of cyber security. After all, a cyber attack costs the average business $3.6 million, according to IBM. If your business faces the unfortunate challenge of a cyber security breach, there is much to consider before ultimately winning back your customers’ trust.

If the worst happens and your business suffers a cyber attack, you should be ready to enact an action plan.

Why Is an Action Plan Critical?

A cyber security action plan enables your business to protect its assets and–most importantly–its customers in the face of a cyber attack. To explain further:

  • A cyber security breach action plan eliminates confusion. When your plan is properly laid out and practiced regularly, essential personnel will be aware of their roles and ready to act in the event of an emergency.
  • It also makes customers feel more at ease. When customers are aware your business is prepared for difficult situations, they can feel better about putting their sensitive information in your hands. For many businesses, customer trust is a critical component of success.
  • Additionally, a cyber security plan can limit damage. When your business knows exactly how to react after a cyber security breach, less time is wasted, and problems are solved more quickly. This is essential to keeping business running as usual.

Now that you know the importance of a cyber security breach action plan, wouldn’t you like to enact one in your business?

How to Create an Action Plan

There are a few important pieces to consider in your cyber security breach action plan. They include:

  1. Ensure each individual in the plan knows his or her role. Each employee should understand exactly where their responsibilities fit in the grand scheme of cyber security incident response, so they can immediately get to work when needed.
  2. Your plan should indicate when to involve law enforcement. Sometimes, there are various “levels” of a data breach–for example, if someone steals extremely sensitive information, it may be more serious than if your Information Technology (IT) team notices strange activity within your network. Your plan should outline when a data breach requires a law enforcement or forensics team to become involved and help catch a perpetrator.
  3. Have your trusted partners on speed dial. The data security situation may require you to call your legal or public relations team to engage them in any ongoing activities. Or, it may require you to reach out to your security partner. Your plan should lay out exactly when their involvement is necessary.
  4. Notify your customers. Your action plan should include a step to notify affected customers of the data breach and offer the solution you’re working on. Transparency is key to maintaining customer trust.

These steps aren’t all inclusive. Engage your C-level team and collaborate on an action plan that will suit your business and your customers in an emergency.

The Right Partners in Cyber Security

One of the best ways to ensure you never have to scramble with cyber security emergencies is to engage a trusted security vendor that knows proper network security. With this approach, you can gain valuable insight about your cyber security breach action plan, conduct regular cyber security audits and gain peace of mind from knowing that an expert is watching over your secured data.