If your organization is currently experiencing or has recently been a victim of a cyberattack, an urgent response is required to repair your network and restore your data and information in a timely manner.
A cyberattack can cost your organization hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars to repair and restore your information.
It is critical that your organization takes the necessary steps to carefully address the attack so no permanent damage is done to your network and any data that is damaged or stolen is not permanently lost.
Coeo has helped thousands of customers improve their network security and knows how important a secure network is to an organization.
We want you to know what to do if your organization’s network is a cyberattack victim so you are better prepared to address it immediately and prevent the least amount of damage.
By the end of this article, you will know what to do if your network is a victim of a cyberattack and the solutions that prevent them.
What to do if your network is a victim of a cyberattack
If your network becomes a victim of a cyberattack, it is critically important to quickly take the necessary steps to repair and restore your network.
This is especially important if your team to lacks IT expertise regarding cyberattacks.
Additionally, a cyberattack can shut down your network for an extended period of time and may result in significantly reduced productivity if your employees rely on connectivity to the network to perform daily tasks.
Some of the steps to take if your network is a victim of a cyberattack include:
● Notify your customers
Maybe the most important step in the process is notifying your customers of the cyberattack.
Being upfront and transparent about what is happening behind the scenes is something your customers should know, especially if it is affecting their data, network, or day-to-day work tasks.
● Identify the type of attack
There are many different types of cyberattacks that malicious actors can use to exploit an organization’s network and steal information and data.
In order for your Security Response Team to properly diagnose the attack, whether the team is internal or outsourced through your provider, it is important to determine the type of attack that is affecting your network.
● Determine what part of your network is affected
After you have identified the type of attack you need to identify the parts of your network that are affected.
Working with the network manager, whether that’s a member of an internal IT team or an outsourced provider, these resources will help you identify affected areas of your network.
● Contain the attack
After determining what areas have been affected, it is important to contain those areas to stop the attack from spreading to other areas of your network.
Most attacks are designed to provide a backdoor to your network for the attacker to continue extracting data and information from your network. For this reason, it is important you contain the attack.
If any devices are affected by the attack, it is important to disconnect them from the network.
Changing any vulnerable passwords and disabling remote access to your network may also help contain the attack.
Additionally, you should re-route network traffic to avoid any area of the network that is affected. However, if multiple areas of your network are affected, it may be a good idea to disconnect the network entirely.
● Repair and restore the damage
Once the status of the damage and the type of attack is determined, all of the information is gathered that is required to repair and restore the network.
As part of this, you should determine the critical business functions that have been compromised.
Additionally, it is important to determine what data has been affected, the systems that have been accessed, and whether any unauthorized entry points are remaining.
After this information is identified, you should start to reinstall systems, restore any data from backups, and repair or replace any damaged hardware.
● Report the attack to law enforcement
It is also important to report the attack to the FBI so they can investigate it with the objective of catching the attackers to ensure no similar attacks happen to other victims.
Additionally, if your organization has cyber liability insurance, it is important to contact your insurance provider to file a claim and provide information about the attack.
Network security solutions that help you avoid a cyberattack
Cyberattacks can severely damage an organization and in some cases, cause the organization to cease operations. Some network security solutions that can help you avoid a cyberattack include:
● SD-WAN
SD-WAN is an overlay network built on top of underlying network connections, whether over fiber, LTE, or broadband.
Traffic encryption, micro-segmentation, and threat intelligence are just a few ways an SD-WAN solution can improve network security.
If you would like to learn more about SD-WAN, you can check out our SD-WAN Buyer’s Guide:
● SASE
SASE is a complementary solution to SD-WAN that provides a greater focus on security.
It is a cybersecurity product that combines a WAN or wide-area network and a security system into one cloud-based solution.
SASE is installed directly on devices instead of on the network to improve the security outside of the office allowing for better network security for remote workers.
● Zero Trust Network Area
ZTNA is a security method that requires verification from any user looking to access resources on a network.
This method fixes some of the shortcomings of the perimeter-based network security model that tools such as firewalls use.
With ZTNA, there is no trusted network because if a malicious actor compromises a device that is on your trusted network, your trusted network is now untrusted. ZTNA takes the approach that all networks are untrusted.
● Demilitarized Zone
A DMZ network is a sub-network that contains and exposes an organization’s services and information to a larger public network.
A DMZ adds additional security outside of your private network to protect you when using a public network.
Similar to the same term used in military operations, the network DMZ is not part of your private network or the public internet so it is a neutral zone or buffer that is still secure.
This allows you to send data and other information through this zone to the public internet or other private networks without having to worry about it being compromised.
Next steps to improve your network security
Now you know what to do if your network is a victim of a cyberattack and the security solutions that help you avoid a cyberattack.
This will help you restore your network in the event of a cyberattack as well as improve your network security to avoid cyberattacks in the future.
A cyberattack can severely diminish the productivity and reputation of your organization and the relationships with your customers.
Therefore, it is important you know the steps to take following a cyberattack and how to prevent them in the future.
Coeo has helped thousands of customers overcome and avoid cyberattacks and knows how important reliable network security is to an organization.
We want you to know what to do if your network is a cyberattack victim and how you can be better prepared to prevent this from happening in the future.
If you would like to speak with our team to learn more about network security or ask any questions you may have you can schedule an appointment.
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