Incident
Response

Data breaches occur when data containing sensitive information, such as personal or financial details, are accessed or stolen by unauthorized individuals or organizations.  

While the repercussions of a data breach can vary depending on the specific incident and the information accessed, here are some potential consequences: 

Financial Loss: Data breaches can result in financial loss due to costs associated with the incident, such as legal fees, regulatory fines, and customer compensation. 

Reputational Damage: A data breach can harm an organization's reputation and credibility, leading to a loss of customer trust and potential long-term business consequences. 

Legal Liabilities: Organizations may be held liable for data breaches and face legal action from affected individuals or regulatory bodies. 

Loss of Confidentiality: Confidential or sensitive information can be accessed or stolen in a data breach, leading to potential loss of privacy for affected parties such as customers, employees, and suppliers. 

Loss of Competitive Advantage: The loss of sensitive data can also dull or eliminate a company's competitive edge, particularly if it compromises the organization's trade secrets or intellectual property. 

Malware, also known as malicious software, refers to any program created to cause harm to a computer system. There are several other types of malware besides ransomware, each with their own characteristics and intended purpose: 

Viruses: A virus attaches itself to a legitimate program and replicates, spreading to other computers. 

Worms: Worms can spread to other computers without the need for a host program. 

Trojans: A trojan disguises itself as a legitimate program. Once executed, attackers can gain unauthorized access to a computer system. 

Adware: Adware is a type of malware that displays unwanted ads and pop-ups on a computer. 

To manage cyber incidents effectively and mitigate their impact, it’s essential to follow an established incident response process. Adhering to a proven process ensures that the appropriate steps are taken quickly to minimize damage and restore operations. To achieve this, you should create an incident response plan for your organization. 

Incident response plans help ensure that all incidents are handled in a consistent and effective manner. They also define clear lines of communication between relevant parties such as incident response service providers, law enforcement agencies, and the privacy commissioner.  

Further, many cybersecurity compliance frameworks require organizations to document an incident response plan. You will need to make one if you plan to attain SOC 2 or ISO 27001 certification, for example. 

Lastly, an IR plan will guide you through fulfilling your mandatory incident reporting. Notably, the SEC requires disclosure no more than four days after the determination of a material cybersecurity incident. That is not a lot of time for an organization to make decisions with potentially-severe legal and reputational consequences, but they are made much easier by following a plan. 

In the event of a cybersecurity incident, Mirai Security employs the following incident response process: 

1) Initial Assessment: We gather information from the client's team and assess the impact on business operations. We also evaluate any privacy concerns and recommend notifying the privacy commissioner if necessary.

2) Detection & Analysis: We provision and deploy tools to gather data for our analysis. We then analyze the situation while continuing to monitor for active threats.

3) Containment, Eradication & Recovery: We work with the client's team to contain and eradicate the threat. If needed, we return to the Detection & Analysis stage for more information.

4) Reporting & Post-Incident Activities: After containing and eliminating the threat, we analyze the potential root cause to inform our recovery approach. Finally, we deliver a post-incident report and debrief the client.