Almost every day, the media report on new cyber attacks. Despite security measures, companies must assume that they will fall victim to an attack sooner or later. The effects can be devastating: In addition to costs for coping, possible ransom payments and operational and service downtimes, there is also the threat of intangible damage such as loss of reputation and trust from customers and partners. Cyber attacks can thus pose an existential threat to companies.

What to do?

The basis is a high level of security that includes a secure IT infrastructure and established procedures, policies and processes. Employees are also key, and must be trained to recognize cyber risks and handle information in a security-conscious manner.

Nowadays, however, a successful attack can never be ruled out. A key component is therefore 24/7 monitoring of the systems in order to quickly detect potential cyberattacks and react correctly. In view of the high costs of operating such monitoring, the shortage of specialists or the lack of expertise, it is advisable to obtain this service from a managed security service provider. Companies that have been the victims of a cyber attack often do not have this protection. In a crisis situation, external incident response experts should be called in immediately, because every second counts. They provide support in dealing with the attack, take over communication with the attackers and help to quickly rebuild the systems.

Source: Oec. magazine issue #19