Imagine this: your worst nightmare has taken place. You’ve found out that you’ve been hacked. Your most valuable data is now in someone else’s hands, and your company is going to suffer enormous damage to its reputation. What do you do now? Your first instinct is probably to assign blame. Here’s what you should do instead: ask the following questions about the hack. They’ll help you make sense of it.

What Systems or Data Were Affected?

Your top priority is to determine what information or systems the hackers were able to access. This involves system checks and forensic examination of network traffic.

Understanding which systems or data the hackers accessed is the first step to preventing a future attack. It allows you to assess your weaknesses and begin to strengthen your defenses.

How Did the Hackers Do It?

Once you’ve figured out what’s been affected, your next move should be to figure out how the hackers managed to get into the system. How do you accomplish that?

Firstly, identify evidence of the breach. You’ll need to look at stored data, including logs and packet captures. Next, you’ll have to trace back from the point of the breach’s discovery to the point of the hackers’ entry into your system.

Thirdly, you need to understand the context of the security data. Are two systems communicated with each other in a way they’re not supposed to? That might not mean that there’s a breach, but it’s an important thing to know about.

Can This Happen to Us Again?

When it comes to data breaches, lightning can strike twice in the same place. If hackers know that your systems and data aren’t adequately protected, they’ll attack again.

A hack doesn’t have to take place a second (or third) time, though. Use the data breach as an opportunity to improve your security. Hackers are interested in easy targets; when you build a higher, thicker wall around your data, it will be more effort than it’s worth to attack you again.

WinMagic: Securing Data through Encryption

Do you want to protect your data in the event of a security breach? Contact WinMagic today at 1-888-879-5879. WinMagic has been securing valuable corporate information through encryption technologies since 1997.

Our products have won numerous awards – most recently, WinMagic received the 2015 CATAAlliance Outstanding Product Achievement Award. If accolades don’t impress you, just ask any of our five million satisfied customers in over 80 countries why they use our product. Learn more about how encryption can help you – call us now.