Which trap would YOU fall for?

Data leaks are an unfortunate reality for companies of any size. It really doesn't matter how big you are — if you have data, someone will try to steal it. After a leak, the most important thing is a fast response.

Data leaks are an unfortunate reality for companies of any size. It really doesn't matter how big you are — if you have data, someone will try to steal it. After a leak, the most important thing is a fast response. In today's article we'll look at the biggest traps you can fall into during a leak, and how to avoid them.

Trap one: delayed response

One of the most common — and most dangerous — things you can do is fail to respond to a leak immediately. Any delays will cost you, not only money but also customer loyalty and reputation overall. The moment you detect a leak, start executing your worst-case plan. Then contact everyone affected by the attack — and yes, you do need to. Mistakes happen, and being upfront won't make things worse.

Trap two: failing to contain the attack

It is absolutely critical to quarantine the breach. You need to isolate every infected and potentially infected device, otherwise all your data will leak out. Once they're quarantined, it's very important to figure out how the attacker got into the system and fix the gap.

Trap three: neglecting the legal side

The Czech Republic — and the entire EU — has data-protection laws (GDPR). Breaking them, unsurprisingly, comes with penalties. So it's quite important to report a breach as soon as possible and document precisely what you did and how you handled it.

In closing

The simplest option, of course, is not to get into this kind of trouble in the first place — which for our regular readers should be a piece of cake. This article is more of a warning about what can happen, and where most people make their mistakes!