Minimizing the cost of data breaches is an important consideration for any effective security strategy, and is a part of the fundamentals of the personal data protection act. In fact, when a breach does happen, a lot of factors can influence its cost, either decreasing or increasing the final amount. Some of those factors are external to the company, such as regulations and laws, and must be accepted as they are.
Nevertheless, there are several aspects that fall within the boundaries of company control and can greatly mitigate the impact of a data breach. These factors can turn a disaster that could put a large company out of business into a manageable situation.
Here are ways you can minimize the cost of data breaches in your organization.
Deploy an Incident Response Team
Create an incident response team involves tasks like:
- Creating an incident response plan and policies
- Setting up formal processes for performing incident reporting and handling
- Determining the response team structure and proper training
Once this planning stage is complete, an incident response team works by identifying, analyzing and trying to eradicate any possible breach situation. Even in instances where a breach is detected after the information leaves the company’s control, the incident response team can still help by reducing the probability of further leaks, while also providing pertinent information to other teams to mitigate the incident impact (i.e., communications, crisis management, legal).
Take Advantage of Encryption Technology
Encryption plays a significant role in minimizing the chances of a data leak. For example, it can protect both data at rest (e.g., data saved on a server, computer, mobile device or Cloud) and data in transit (e.g., information downloaded over the Internet, used by an application, sent over an instant messenger or email).
In any case, if a hacker captures encrypted information it will be useless, provided he does have the means to deciphering it (e.g., private encryption keys). This makes the broad use of encryption technology throughout a company a great method for mitigating the cost of a data breach.
Provide Cyber security Training for Employees & Stakeholders
Employee security awareness training, one of the fundamentals of the personal data protection act, is another great strategy for mitigating the possibility of a data breach. For starters, staff and employees should be made aware of corporate security policies and basic security principles, including directives, policies, and the consequences of violating rules. This should minimize the likelihood of insiders taking part, either intentionally or by accident, in a data breach.
Cybersecurity training can also greatly mitigate the success rate of cyberattacks like phishing. Even when a hacker successfully carries out an attack, it is far more likely that a trained employee will report the attack to the incident response team.
Build a Data Classification Policy & Use a Data Loss Prevention Solution
Data classification means categorizing information based on specific criteria (e.g., public, internal use or confidential) to ensure it can be protected according to its value to the company. This process helps organizations and companies determine what information is considered sensitive, who should have access to it, and how it should be processed, copied or discarded.
Consider Adopting Cyber Insurance Protection
With the increasing number of companies and organizations suffering from data breaches, the rise of cyber insurance adoption shouldn’t come as a surprise. It is crucial to consider that cyber insurance will make sure the organization will have ample financial stability should a massive security breach occur, but it will not protect the organization from a data breach.
Cyber insurance can be used to finance several services related to a data leak, such as hiring a forensics expert, or any other additional resource needed to investigate and contain an incident.
Having cyber insurance can minimize the financial impact of a security incident and the cost of a breach, but it is crucial to remember it shouldn’t totally replace other security measures.
