In the world of business and technology, data is the new currency. Companies collect it from all angles, analyze it with precision and then monetize it to create a massive wealth of information that can drive decision-making.
But when a data disaster occurs, which happens more often than you think, you need to know what to do to recover in time and minimize damage. This way, you can prevent financial losses due to downtime that could have been avoided by learning from other companies who have gone through similar situations.
This six-step guide can help you be more aware and prepared and avoid losing money or time due to a data disaster at your company.
- Evaluate The Severity Of The Situation
The first step towards dealing with a data disaster is understanding what happened and why. Many things, including human error or external threats such as nation-state actors or cyber criminals, can cause data breaches. Essentially, evaluating what happened can give you an in-depth understanding of the situation, helping you determine how to prevent future incidents and recover from an existing one.
Considering the damages a data disaster can cause to your business, it may be best to contact a team of cybersecurity experts like https://www.1rivet.com/rpa-accounting/ to help you assess the severity of the situation. During this process, you must consider the number of records affected by the incident and the number of stolen documents. This way, you can evaluate whether or not your business is at risk for financial losses due to fraud or identity theft.
- Identify Affected Users
After determining the severity of the situation, you must identify the affected users in your organization. You can investigate how your internal team has been affected by this data crisis and help them recover their data, if possible.
An excellent way to identify affected users is through a combination of log files from your database server and any application logs on your system. These may contain critical information about the problem and its cause. After that, you must immediately communicate with your service providers to ensure that they are aware of your issues and can take appropriate measures accordingly.
- Contact Local Authorities And Other Professionals
Once you have identified the affected users, contact local authorities for assistance. You will need to provide them with details about the problem and any relevant logs or reports you have collected. This way, they can begin to take action to resolve the issue.
You could also consult a team of legal and IT professionals and forensic experts and discuss the situation and possible next steps. Ideally, you’d want to secure your operations and other areas in your organization that may be vulnerable to another breach. For instance, if you suspect a single database has been compromised, you should inform them immediately to avoid any risks of a broader attack happening soon after.
- Figure Out Who Is Responsible For The Data Disaster
If the data loss in your company resulted from human errors that led to a security breach, you’d want to know if any of your employees were responsible for it. If, after a thorough investigation, the data disaster is due to your staff’s negligence or disgruntled employees, you can deliberate on the sanction they should face.
It’s best to address this issue with everyone involved as soon as possible so that you can get them back on track quickly. The sooner you find out who was responsible and ensure they’re held accountable, the better off everyone will be.
- Ensure Your Backups Are Functional
Backup strategies for cybersecurity should be well thought out in advance, with a clear understanding of the risks involved and what needs to be backed up. The more often you can make backups, the better chance you have of recovering from a disaster if it occurs.
Take advantage of cloud-based services that allow you to schedule automated backups. This can help ensure that your data is always protected against unexpected issues.
- Review Your Disaster Recovery Plan
Another thing you can do if a data disaster occurs is to fix vulnerabilities within your company, starting with your disaster recovery plan.
When reviewing your disaster recovery plan, you must ensure that employees know their roles and responsibilities. It is also vital that everyone understands how their tasks will be affected by the incident. For example, an employee who works in IT will need to take over responsibilities for dealing with customers while someone else handles backup procedures. This can be done by creating separate channels for each group to be distinct from one another.
Wrapping It Up
Data is a critical facet of any business’s operations. Therefore, it is paramount that organizations safeguard their data and understand how to recover from a data loss.
With that, this guide provides a quick look at various aspects related to data recovery. Hopefully, the insights outlined above can help IT professionals face common disasters that may affect the organization’s ability to access its data effectively.
