Cybersecurity: Time’s Up!

Cybersecurity: Time’s Up!

Social engineering and ransomware continue to top the list of cybersecurity threats, according to the 2016 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report released a few weeks ago. Alarmingly, the report shows the amount of time to compromise and exfiltrate data is measured in seconds and minutes for 28.3% of cyberattacks.
Time is of the essence when a potential incident occurs. When you have mere seconds to make a decision on how to contain and mitigate an attack, it is critical to have a robust incident response plan in place and to test it periodically to ensure that all staff know their roles and responsibilities.

Ascendant has created incident response plans for advisers of various shapes and sizes, and a key element to each one has been establishing clear lines for reporting and prompt escalation. I am thrilled that we will be featuring an interactive incident response planning session at our upcoming national compliance conference in San Diego, California in September 2016.  Even firms who have adopted a solid incident response plan can benefit from incident response planning exercises – because the change in a single fact may alter the course of action you should take. But don’t take my word for it. As Verizon’s annual data breach report states, you have time. Three minutes and 45 seconds, to be exact.*

(*Median time from when a social engineering test is conducted to when the first recipient clicks to open the would-be malicious attachment).