Don’t Forget Cybersecurity in Your Emergency Preparedness Plan

An emergency preparedness plan assists firms in surviving any type of disaster. Many firms, however, are unaware that a cybersecurity strategy is equally necessary for developing a solid disaster preparedness plan.

You may better safeguard your organization during critical situations and reduce the effect of cyberthreats by including cybersecurity into your emergency preparedness plan. This will assist you in strengthening your company’s resilience, ensuring that you are better prepared to function in the face of unanticipated obstacles.

Best practices for effective disaster preparedness planning in IT security

Here are some helpful hints for strengthening your company’s catastrophe preparedness planning:

  1. Protect your IT infrastructure and data

Cybercriminals see your data as a gold mine and will go to any length to obtain it. That is why it is critical to fortify your IT infrastructure in order to resist any calamity. Failure to establish proper data protection procedures may result in fines and lawsuits. 

Pro tip

• Firewalls, intrusion detection systems and encryptions can strengthen your IT security.
• Implementing a process to fix and update software patches regularly will help you avoid security vulnerabilities.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              2. Back up critical data

Data loss can occur due to a variety of factors, including cyberattacks and natural catastrophes. If your company has not properly backed up its data, recovery can be costly, time-consuming, and appear to be impossible. If you want your company to survive, your disaster recovery strategy must ensure that your data is clean, accessible, and recoverable.

Pro tip

• Regularly back up critical data.
• Back up your data off-site or in the cloud.
• Test backups regularly to verify their integrity.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      3. Improve employee awareness

Your staff are merely your weakest link if they are not properly trained. You can strengthen their understanding by performing frequent security awareness training. It also improves your employees’ skill and desire to follow emergency security standards.

Pro tip

• Train your employees to identify phishing attempts, report suspicious activities and follow security protocols.
• Promote a culture of preparedness.
• Routinely test employee preparedness through simulated scenarios or drills.                                                                                                                                                                                                              4. Review insurance policies

Insurance is essential in building disaster resilience. It can hasten your recuperation after an incident. To cover all bases, it is a good idea to get property insurance, business interruption insurance, and cybersecurity insurance.

Pro tip  

• Routinely review insurance policies to ensure you have proper coverage for potential risks and disasters.
• Maintain records of your assets, inventory and financial transactions to facilitate insurance claims and recovery efforts.
• Take the help of an insurance expert to understand current coverage and determine if additional coverage is required.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  5. Evaluate vendor and supplier preparedness

Disasters strike without warning, and any weak link in your supply chain increases your susceptibility. It is critical to know if your vendor has a disaster preparedness plan in place to protect your customers and overall business operations.

Pro tip

• Ensure your vendors’ or suppliers’ disaster preparedness practices align with your plans.
• Ask your vendor to share their disaster communication plan with you.
• Recommend that your suppliers test their disaster plan at least once a year.
• Ask them to take the help of an experienced IT service provider if you think their plan is lacking.                                                                                                                                                                            6. Review and revise your preparedness strategies

It is critical to routinely test your preparation plan for flaws and deficiencies. You can close gaps and reinforce your plan via testing. A well-tested plan will safeguard your data and assist you in avoiding income loss during an outage, cyberattack, or natural disaster.

Pro tip

• Extensively document changes in the organization, including people, processes and resources.
• Conduct mock tests to gauge the preparedness of your plan and employees.
• Take the help of an IT service provider to enhance your plan. They can also carry out timely audits to test the effectiveness of your program.

We can help you outlast any disaster

It might be difficult to create a complete disaster preparedness plan that is both sturdy and incorporates a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy on your own. Your organization may become resilient and outlive any calamity by teaming with an expert IT service provider like Atom Creek.

Contact sales@atomcreek.com today for a free consultation on how we can assist you in developing an effective disaster preparedness plan.