Dealing with old and new risks that trigger a data breach

28^th October, 2020

How vulnerable is your critical data? How to respond to a data breach?

Organizations must delve into new risks and repercussions of a data breach with insecure home networks and strained security resources.

Fraud prevention specialists should take note of not only financial aspects, but also associated “soft costs” or hidden cost of data breaches, asserted  Tom Madden, Sr Partner Client Succes + Growth, ICFNext, and Matt Silverman, Sr Partner Corporate Communications and Brand Strategy, ICFNext during the LSA Fall Virtual Conference 2020.

A data breach results in a sweeping impact, bringing about not only financial losses but also damages reputation, decreased trust and changed perceptions of organizational strength.

Silverman explained that reputation issues shouldn’t be overlooked. Customers want to feel safe, and since fraud is growing, the probability of an organization’s data assets getting stolen should be brought down.

“Planning is critical,” said Madden.

It is vital for loyalty executives to assess – are they ready to deal with a breach? When it comes to security and transparency – how to communicate? In case a data breach happens, then what to share and what not to share? Timing of communication – within a day or a week? 

“All of this and more has to be a part of a thoughtful decision-making, it can’t be spontaneous,” said Silverman.

Focus on limiting access to data 

Data security isn’t a “set it and forget it” exercise and an ongoing effort is need to address threats to data privacy, data leakage etc.

Experts highlight that within a company,  one cannot misuse or leak what they don’t have access to. So either limit access by default or control the size of the potential leak.

By Ritesh Gupta

Ai Team