Critical.
Authoritative.
Strategic.
Subscribe to CIO Magazine »

What to do in the event of a data breach?

Even though it now appears there was no terrorist attack on a pump at an Illinois water utility, the SCADA infiltration scare was a reminder that data breaches can come from any number of angles.

The year 2011 has been pockmarked with one breach after another, with the Sony PlayStation Network and even security leader RSA getting hit.

So what's a company to do? Do you hide the fact that your network has been hacked or do you make that information public immediately to try to minimize damage in the court of public opinion? We have two experts who recommend taking different tacks, with one advocating that you don't say anything until forced to and the other insisting doing so is a critical first step.

One study says that it could cost a company $204 per compromised customer record with the average total cost running in the neighborhood of $7 million. One answer is cyber insurance. If hackers are always one step ahead of those protecting your network, a viable option is to have insurance to help defray the costs of damages.

To continue reading, register here to become an Insider. You'll get free access to premium content from CIO, Computerworld, CSO, InfoWorld, and Network World. See more Insider content or sign in.

Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.

More about: etwork, RSA, Sony
References show all

Comments

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
Users posting comments agree to the CIO comments policy.
Login or register to link comments to your user profile, or you may also post a comment without being logged in.
Related Coverage
Related Whitepapers
Latest Stories
Community Comments
Tags: anti-malware, cybercrime, data breach, freemium, legal, scada, security, sony
Latest Blog Posts
Whitepapers
  • Leveraging the Service Catalog to Scale Your MSP Business
    When assessing an MSP’s maturity and prospects, one question provides more insights than any other: “What’s in your service catalog?” A well-defined service catalog can set the framework for growth. The lack of a service catalog can significantly impede an MSP’s ability to scale. This paper explores why the service catalog is so vital, and provides some practical guidelines MSPs can apply in order to ensure their service catalog provides maximum utility and benefit.
    Learn more »
  • The Case for Real-Time Networking
    CIOs are facing several powerful trends and inflection points that are defining the new IT landscape, including cloud computing, virtualization, the consumerization of IT, smart computing, and communications to collaboration. Taken individually, each one of these trends will have significant ripple effects throughout the planning and operations of IT network infrastructure. In aggregate, they will have an even more dramatic impact on the way that future network architectures need to be planned and designed. Read on.
    Learn more »
  • Protecting Generation Web
    From data privacy to personal safety issues, cyber-bullying, inappropriate content and malware, schools are facing an increasingly difficult task when it comes to allowing young people to spread their online wings without compromising their safety and personal development. The reality that most schools are catering to the needs of mixed age groups and abilities, and it’s easy to understand why a simple stop and block approach won’t work. Learning environments are, by nature, flexible. It stands to reason that the IT resources used in them should be flexible too. Read on.
    Learn more »
All whitepapers
rhs_login_lockGet exclusive access to Invitation only events CIO, reports & analysis.