Be Prepared! Be Very Prepared!

2021 is kicking off much like 2020 – cyber incidents are on the rise and hackers are becoming more creative in their approaches to infiltrating company networks. There are, however, a few consistencies in the incidents we have seen so far in 2021. For instance, each client attacked thought their systems were protected the day before and each thought they were well prepared to respond to an incident. The fact is, no one can truly be fully prepared for an incident because it is nearly impossible to predict when it will occur and where it will come from. Hackers spend countless hours devising attacks to circumvent the controls organizations have put in place. While you may not be able to predict where the attack can come from, you can certainly plan ahead for how you will respond. The Ponemon/IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report 2020 noted that breach response costs for companies who prepared to respond to an attack were 39.5% lower than those who did not.

The question of the day is – do you think your organization has done enough planning to properly respond to an incident or breach? Who do you call first? What is each person’s role once the incident is identified? Is your IT team prepared to contain the incident, while not destroying any evidence as to how the incident occurred and what data may have been exfiltrated? If you can’t answer those questions, we should talk!

Citrin Cooperman’s Technology, Risk Advisory, and Cybersecurity (TRAC) Practice team is available to guide you through the important aspects of being prepared for an incident. In fact, our CyberSecure service offering provides you with a resource available 24/7/365 to assist as soon as you are aware that an attack may be in-progress. If you already have a plan in place, we can help you evaluate and test the plan to make sure your team is ready and alert in the heat of the moment. 

Your company’s ability to respond timely to and recover from a cyber incident is often based on the actions your team takes in the first few hours. The hackers are counting on a disorganized, emotional, and reactive response. Prove them wrong! If you’d like to discuss how to best determine your preparedness for a cyber incident, contact Michael Camacho at mcamacho@citrincooperman.com or Kevin Ricci at kricci@citrincooperman.com to set up a discussion on how we can help.