Security and privacy breaches are on the rise globally, with potentially serious implications for businesses that are not able to handle them promptly and efficiently.
This can feel like a vast and confusing maze to navigate, especially for small and medium businesses, if underprepared.
However, with just a few simple steps, businesses can ensure they are taking the most appropriate response to a breach and giving themselves the best chance of mitigating the impact of an attack. You can see the top five suggestions below from our Head of Security and CISO as a Service Consultant, David Clarke.
A 5 step guide
What to do the face of Security or Privacy breaches
Once a breach is discovered, getting all the key stakeholders together to establish some ground rules about how to deal with the breach is key. This should be done whilst maintaining a ‘no blame’ approach to operations. Additionally, the incident should be given a code name for use in emails and discussions to maintain clarity.
It’s then necessary to capture every piece of known, suspected or inferred information about the breach to get an overview of the situation. The targeted business should only work with verifiable facts, even if there are very few, and all decisions must be directly logged. Crucially, it’s vital to ensure that no suspicion or guesswork is released outside of the key stakeholders. Once ready to release information outside of the company, ensure that it is only via a named spokesperson.
In the case of a personal data breach, the business should, in the first instance, work on the data subject risk analysis. For example, will this breach cause detriment to the data subject? It will then be necessary to verify and check all possible evidence and challenges. After the breach, only 20% or less of the data will remain available. This is why the business should start to size, scope and quantify the breach on an ongoing basis.
Senior management should be briefed only with facts and factual based risk assessments. However, the business should also be prepared to notify the relevant authorities and/or Data Subjects in a controlled manner.
Regulatory bodies will judge a business based on how breaches are managed, not the breach itself. Ensure to register the issue with authorities if required, for example if the risks are very high. Initial focus must be firmly on gaining a level of control, confidence, and containment over the breach.
Ultimately, businesses should reach out for professional assistance if needed. Work on containing the breach to make eradication easier.
If you’d like more support or out any further information on measures you can take to protect your business, get in touch.
We look at where the IT Support needs of SME’s are heading and why.
Here at QuoStar we’ve certainly seen an increase in the demand for Managed IT Support Services, particularly over the last 12 months. And especially by Small and Medium Enterprises (SME’s).
The driving force behind the need for Managed IT Support Services
A primary driver is that IT teams have been running flat-out trying to control a significant increase in cyber security threats, whilst dealing with a rapid move towards hybrid working over the last 18 months. And it’s unlikely to slow down any time soon, with security threats and hybrid working both on the rise. Forbes suggests theHybrid Modelwill rewrite the future of work.
Gartner predicts that: “By the end of 2021, 51% of all knowledge workers worldwide are expected to be working remotely (up from 27% of knowledge workers in 2019).” They also estimate that remote workers will represent 32% of all employees worldwide by the end of 2021 – up from 17% of employees in 2019. That figure has almost doubled in just two years!
Most organisations have required the skills, experience and pure horsepower of a managed services business to speed up their projects up, while also taking the reins within various parts of their IT operations, such as IT service,IT security,networking and cloud platforms.
What common snags have IT teams been hitting?
The pace of change within organisations in terms of digital transformation and cyber security has been rapid over the last few years, spurred on even more so by the workplace changes forced upon everyone by Covid19.
IT teams have been swamped by internal demands over the last few years, as well as having been diverted onto other internal projects pushed down from the board. When you couple that with some quite large skills-gaps, managed IT services are a perfect solution, both now and into the future.
What are the benefits of Managed IT Support Services for businesses?
Put simply, Managed IT Support Services provide organisations of all size access to guaranteed experts and service-levels at a fixed cost.
The information technology space is rapidly changing, yet is absolutely critical in virtually every single sector, and for all sizes of operation. Using a managed IT solutions provider means organisations can pick and choose the right operational support to build the IT operation they desire, without many of the complexities and costs of doing it internally.
It’s often extremely beneficial for an organisation to outsource to managed service providers in order to free up internal IT staff to focus on business improvement and transformation. It takes the pressure off when you can leave others to “keep the lights on” so to speak.
The need to free up internal IT teams by outsourcing to a managed service provider is going to be further fuelled by the skills shortage in the UK and globally while the need for rapid transformation within businesses grows as they try to compete on a national – and in many cases international – basis.
Why are managed IT Support services so important to SME’s (small and medium enterprises)?
They don’t need, nor could many justify, a full-time resource. But they do, however, still need access to, and the ongoing support of, an experienced C-level executive. Accessing that means they remain competitive and secure in a rapidly changing world.
What managed IT services can QuoStar offer SME’s?
QuoStar provide a wide range of managed services across a broad spectrum of industries. We predominantly work with businesses with 30-300 employees. It’s often these businesses get left behind in the market – even though they are the ones most likely to need the additional support.
In terms of sector, we vary, but we find that we have a strong base within the legal and the recruitment sectors because our experience over many years has given us a great depth on knowledge in those fields – and that in itself is in demand.
We can provide everything a business needs, from the service desk through to IT management and CIO level consultants on a flat fee basis. This allows our clients to pick and choose the right capabilities to support and compliment their needs as required.
IT Support & Managed Cloud
We provide businesses – both with or without internal IT teams – with the right skills, teams and service levels to keep them available, stable and secure. We run public, private and hybrid clouds for organisations. This ensures that the cloud services are delivering the right levels of service at the right price point.
Fully Managed IT Support: Total Service
Co-Sourced IT Support
Managed Networks
Managed Cloud Services
Hybrid working platform: Workspace Ignite
Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
Hosted Telephony & VoIP
IT Security
We deliver a wide range of managed security solutions. We provide technological controls to the risks posed to organisations on 24x7x365 basis. So you don’t have to attract, employ and retain IT Security experts. Something which is virtually impossible in all but the largest enterprises.
QuoStar provides top-tier, proven and experienced IT leaders, such as CIOs (Chief Information Officers), CISOs (Chief Information Security Officers) and CTOs (Chief Technology Officers) on a fractional basis. This gives mid-sized and smaller organisations access to the support of industry leaders, but again on a monthly basis as and when required.
IT Consultancy
Cloud Consultancy
Office 365 consulting
Microsoft Azure Consultancy
Network and Communications
Infrastructure
Agile & Hybrid working
Digital Transformation
We help businesses take the next step in their digital evolution. It’s imperative for any business in today’s world – and even more so when looking for expansion.
CIO as a service
Data & BI
IT Strategy & Roadmaps
Process improvement
Coaching and mentoring
Ensure your business stays ahead of the curve by using the right Managed IT Services Support for your business.
