Indeed, cyberattacks have severe consequences on business operations. From complete halt of operations to losing critical data, the effects are vast. It is common for CISO to claim they have the best security systems. The employees may also boast the latest security training. But a time usually comes none of these can help.
Regardless of an agency’s security prowess, a unique situation will always come. In such events, the business owners are usually in a tight spot racing against time. And more often, delaying to solve these problems brings along more challenges. Mitigating the incident is the ultimate goal. But the business should also remember it is starting from behind.
The Limits to Business Operations Recovery After Cyber Event
Unfortunately, not every organization has the capacity to handle a cyber incident. Many factors limit a business from maintaining operations after a cyber event. Lack of communication within the agency is just one of the many. That is why the company needs to develop excellent communication practices. Every member of the team needs to be on the same page to ensure a successful mitigation process.
Usually, the business operations and the security team may fail to develop an efficient communication practice. Addressing this challenge demands streamlined and seamless coordination between all the stakeholders. Another limit to efficient communication is the lack of a plan. This is true, especially when the organization doesn’t lay a strategy to handle business interruptions.
But this is understandable to some extent. Cyber events come with the stress of responding to unbearable situations. There are also endless procedures and technical pieces to keep business operations running. The worst of all is skipping or forgetting a step in the process. All these may lead to mistakes and can be costly in the end.
It is also an excellent idea for a business to have a mitigation plan. A continuity plan to deal with these disruptions and ransomware attacks will keep business operations intact. For example, most organizations usually feel that recovering from ransomware is easy. Yet, in reality, it is not. Ransomware disrupts business operations in many ways. And the worst is when it comes to encrypting the already corrupted data and files.
Maintaining Business Operations After System Failure
Maintaining business operations after cyber incident calls for a lot. For one, keeping data integrity is essential. Beyond having continuity plans, the business should have data recovery methods. Plus, a backup plan will ensure a proactive approach in recovering from an incident. With backup and data recovery methods, a business will operate efficiently.
So, an agency should use BDR to ensure it is on track, especially after an attack. They should work with cloud providers with clear strategies to handle an emergency. In particular, the plans should be definitive and procedural. It should not just be a tool to address these events as they happen. The security team should have a resilience mindset capable of foreseeing problems.
In Summary
Even though cyberattacks present endless challenges, recovering from the same is easy. It will depend mainly on the type of security plans in place. These may include proper communication and BDR system adoption.