Companies need to understand the real impact of a cyber attack and the importance of involving all stakeholders in formulating counter strategies. The process is critical for the survival of companies and their business advancement.
When attacked or cybernetically threatened, industries often find the issue to be an IT problem. However, cybersecurity transcends this area. It is a multidisciplinary issue that involves the combination of business risk assessment, methods of financial quantification, training, and evaluation of impact to the brand.
It requires the involvement of various departments, including legal, communication, IT, finance, human resources, auditing, risk management and management (C-level and the board).
Analysis
Some recent studies provide an analysis of how business leaders assess the impacts of cyber attacks on their organizations. If there is a measurement for all risks (financial, assets and legal), it is also necessary to measure cybernetics. This aspect has a strong impact on the business, including branding and reputation. If mishandled, it may lead to heavy losses.
It is common for companies to improvise a very superficial analysis of the impact. It is necessary to analyze losses considering the direct and intangible costs, such as brand devaluation, loss of intellectual property and other business impact factors. The assessment should cover a longer period of time than the normal timeframe.
The gravity of the situation is often underestimated. Companies often look at the matter for a few weeks sorting incidents and they think that everything is solved after a few months of impact management. Instead, it is necessary to plan for the long-term to ensure complete recovery of the business since the effects of such attacks can be felt for up to five years.
Dealing with attacks
Unlike cybercrime in the previous years, cyberattacks are no longer a diversion. These attacks are increasingly monetized, silent, persistent and advanced. A wrong decision in minutes, in the area of cyber risk, is likely to affect the future of the company's business over the next decade.
In 2016, on average, it took 117 days for companies to discover they had been targeted by a cyber attack.
Faced with this scenario, many companies may already have suffered an attack and are unaware of the breach, reports Financial Director.
The handling of the incident after the discovery should entail interruption of operations and application of Security controls to reduce vulnerability. The next steps involve informing partners and customers. Within weeks, business continuity.measures should be put in place.
Organizations should define the interim structure of post-attack operations, seek legal advice and consider regulatory issues. It is vital to maintain working relationships with customers and partners. This forms part of business continuity.
Within months or years, companies need to focus on repair any damaged data, redesign of the process and invest in better security, surveillance and, in particular, cybernetic resilience. If implemented correctly, the business will emerge stronger from the crisis.
