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Changes include:
Recently we got a call from a company (we’ll call them ACME) that had experienced a breach. They weren’t sure what had happened, or when, but they knew that something was wrong.
How they found out:
They learned of the breach from a third party. The third party had noticed inconsistent activity within their system, which ACME had access to. Their system was configured to recognize suspicious activity and triggered an alarm, which was then investigated, and access to their system was revoked. They then notified ACME of the issue, and made a formal request that ACME investigate on their side.
What happened next:
ACME didn’t have a process in place to respond to this type of issue. When they learned of the problem they did what any company would do, they started asking around. They asked their IT company, they discussed internally, etc. But it was a scramble to try to figure out what to do.
How they got to us:
Luckily, we knew their IT company, so they were referred to us fairly quickly. We got in touch with them immediately and began coaching them through the process.
What we did:
Since ACME didn’t have an incident response process, we used ours. We immediately had them isolate the system that had been compromised, and began a forensic investigation to determine exactly what had happened.
What was the cause?
After a thorough investigation we determined that it wasn’t a virus or any type of technical compromise. It was simply that one of ACME’s employees had lost their password, and a bad guy found it. They used it to steal personal information (including SSN’s) for 42 people before their activity was discovered.
What was the outcome?
Ultimately 42 records is not very many (tell that to the victims though), and it was containable. It surely could have been much worse. Consider that in an average breach over 30,000 records are lost, and each record costs over $200 to cleanup. The costs can mount very quickly.
What should You do?
First, have a process in place to respond to an incident. If you don’t know where to start, call us.
Second, if something bad happens, call your IT company, then call us immediately. There are steps that need to be taken to insure you are as defensible as possible. If the loss ever goes to court, you will need to show that you took the appropriate steps once you learned of the issue. We know what those steps are and can help.
Ultimately this was a training and awareness issue (people/administrative risk). Incorporating information security into your training and awareness program is something every company should do, and it isn’t that difficult. I would bet that your IT company or department has done a pretty good job keeping bad guys out of your network, but who is teaching your employees how to avoid letting a bad guy in the side door?
Contact me directly:
Kevin Orth
952-442-1709
www.frsecure.com
At FRSecure, our goal is to give you, the small business owner, the same level of Information Security experience and quality that big companies have, but at a tenth of the cost of a full-time information security professional.
Large companies have Information Security professionals dedicated to ensuring their information is as protected as possible. But for small companies, hiring an Information Security professional is cost prohibitive.
FRSecure offers the best of both worlds by providing affordable Information Security expertise to small businesses!
Contact me for more information:
Kevin Orth
952-442-1709
Or click here to download the brochure.
The links below will take you to video from FRSecure’s Brunch & Learn presented by Kevin Orth, VP of Operations.
People Present The Most Significant Risk To The Security Of Information
“It’s not the technology that’s to blame for most breaches; it’s the people behind the technology”
What is the most significant risk to information?
The right approach to managing people risk
Join us on October 1st at Lake Harriet in Minneapolis to support Minnesota Teen Challenge! We haven’t set up our team yet, but will be soon. Email us at info@frsecure.com if you’d like to join us, and stay tuned for more information next week!
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