Incident response: how to prevent and respond to data breaches

Most businesses don’t have a plan in place for when a security breach occurs. That’s a costly oversight given that, according to the same research, the majority of large U.S. businesses have experienced some form of cyber attack before. An effective incident response plan brings people, processes, and technology together to reduce the chances of a breach, and minimize the damage of any that do occur. No matter what type of business you operate, putting this plan in place is critical to creating a strong, proactive cybersecurity strategy.

1Password is excited to share two new resources to help with navigating the modern threats that businesses face. The data breach prevention checklist and incident response guide cover the steps your team should take before, during, and after any security event. With these tips in mind, you can create an approach that suits your business, helping you keep your data (and customers) safe in an ever-changing threat landscape.

Data breach prevention checklist

From the tools you choose to use, to how your team works, it’s important to be proactive about securing all of your business’ vulnerabilities and risks. Our data breach prevention checklist covers some of the steps you should take to start building your company’s digital defenses. Some will likely be familiar, while others may be new or change how you think about incident response. Every business is unique, so review what makes sense for yours and get to work implementing it.

Creating an effective incident response plan

A detailed incident response playbook will be your best friend if your company ever experiences a data breach. This playbook should clearly summarize the steps your team needs to take if an incident is reported or suspected. That could be a customer noticing something strange on your website, a monitoring tool flagging abnormal activity in your network, or something else. Staying calm and following the right procedure will help mitigate the problem, ensure you notify and involve relevant people early, address the underlying security vulnerabilities, and strengthen your business against future threats.

With help from the 1Password Security Team, we’ve assembled an incident response guide that explains what to do if you ever experience a breach. It breaks down the common stages in incident response, as well as people and tools that could play a major role. Your plan will be slightly different – based on your company structure, your available resources, and other factors – but you can use our guide as a starting point to develop policies and procedures that are most effective for your team.

How employees can help prevent and respond to incidents

Cybersecurity isn’t just “an IT problem.” Your employees are an extension of your security team that can help raise red flags and identify suspicious activity. They’re also your single best defense against data breaches, provided you give them the tools and support needed to practice safe online habits.

In addition to these two new guides, you should also check out:

• Our guide to creating a culture of security, which will naturally result in a safer company overall.
• Our guide that explains how to avoid a data breach.
• The Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report, which details why a password manager can help address your single largest vulnerability.

Cyber threats are getting sneakier by the day, moving the goalposts for you and your security team. You should be realistic about the risks and prepared for anything. If you don’t have an incident response strategy yet, today’s the perfect day to start creating one.

Andrew Zangre

Content Marketing Manager