Data breach response policies are essential for organizations of any size. A response policy should outline how your company will respond in the event of a data breach, and lay out an action plan that will be used to investigate potential breaches to mitigate damage should a breach occur.
Defining a Data Breach
A data breach is an incident where Personal Identifying Information (PII) is accessed and/or stolen by an unauthorized individual. Examples of PII include:
Breach Containment and Preliminary Assessment
A breach or a suspected breach of PII must be immediately investigated and contained. Since all PII is of a highly confidential nature, only personnel necessary for the data breach investigation should be informed of the breach. The following information must be reported to appropriate management personnel:
Evaluation of the Risks Associated with the Breach
Once basic information about the breach has been established, management should make a record of events and people involved, as well as any discoveries made over the course of the investigation to determine whether or not a breach has occurred.
After the breach has been verified and contained, perform a risk assessment that rates the:
Notification
Each jurisdiction has different provisions for reporting a data breach. In some jurisdictions, impacted customers must be notified before a certain amount of time has passed. Check with legal council or your representative at Axis Insurance Group regarding the regulations in your jurisdiction.
In addition to the affected clients, a company that has suffered a data breach is also encouraged to notify the appropriate Privacy Commissioner(s). In some jurisdictions, notification of the Privacy Commissioner is mandatory. In other jurisdictions, it is only recommended.
Cyber Assessments:
With the increased usage of technology in people’s lives to stay connected while mostly working from home, cybersecurity threats have also become a growing issue and require proper assessments to manage any security gaps and risks that can harm your business.
Therefore, it’s important to conduct proper cyber assessments to mitigate the possibility of having your company’s cybersecurity system breached.
Get a FREE Cyber Risk Assessment to see if you're properly protecting your business from cyber risks: