You Have Been Warned: How To Respond Effectively To Security Breaches

By Chris Harris, Support Analyst, Marval Software

According to the Global ISACA report, 83% of organizations believe that cyber attacks are among their top three threats.

It’s hardly surprising. Cybercrime becomes more aggressive day by day and almost one in two data breaches is due to a malicious attack. In 2015 only, there was a 65% year-on-year increase in cyber attacks. There’s a reason for that: Cybercrime is low risk, remote enough to provide safety nets, cheap to plan and perform and, if successful, it can be highly profitable.

Cybersecurity is a different story. It’s complicated, highly dependable, easily compromised and can prove very expensive for today’s organizations. And yet, Cybersecurity is something that organizations cannot afford to ignore, as the financial cost of a data breach can be significantly greater than any preventive task; and bear long-lasting effects.

It is estimated that the average cost per each lost record due to a criminal attack is around £140. This cost depends on the industry sector (regulated sectors show higher costs per lost record, due to fines and legal expenditures), the time spent between the malicious attack and the identification of the breach, and the time spent between the malicious attack and the actual resolution of the incident.

Any minute spent without action to contain the breach adds up to the total financial cost of the incident; without counting the cost of reputation loss and any lost business from existing or potential customers in the future. And yet, here’s a scary fact: According to Ponemon Institute, it can take 229 days to identify a data breach due to criminal attack, and 82 days to contain it!

When a malicious attack breaks out, there usually are some warning signs: Connections that become slower, network or email activity which becomes abnormal, users trying to access systems and applications they don’t have (and don’t need) access to, customers complaining about system crashes or password changes. Each of these warning signs can be purely coincidental and in several cases it’s only in hindsight that they are recognised as the warning signs of a cyber attack. By accelerating the identification and response to security incidents though, organizations could reduce the overall cost (and any other negative impact).

The good news is, a sophisticated ITSM solution like Marval MSM can help reduce the risk, minimise the impact and accelerate the resolution of a major incident, by:

·         Identifying vulnerabilities and breach incidents, as soon as they appear

·         Providing real-time reports, comparable tables and prioritization features

·         Providing advanced security controls and personalized access levels

·         Helping the Service Desk team respond rapidly and effectively, taking advantage of the most suitable available resources and assets and by using rich collaboration features

·         recognizing possible liabilities and risks, through thorough risk assessments

·         Recommending improvements and upgrades

·         Offering documentation to support critical business decisions

·         Accelerating change

When a malicious attack happens, time is money. organizations need to use their best assets (their people, their processes and world-class technology) to reduce response time and minimise the short and long-term impact of the attack. Being a Support Analyst, I know how important it is to have at hand tools and features that will enable me to manage the incident effectively. It’s fantastic to know that, when technology becomes an enemy, great technology is my best ally.