Who Helps Businesses in Calgary Recover From A Cyber Attack?

CTECH Ready To Help Your Calgary Business Recover From A Cyber Attack

The technology age has been a boon for small and mid-sized businesses, but it also opens the door to significant risks. The theft of vital information is no longer a physical burglary restricted to a brick and mortar operation. Criminal hackers now have global capabilities to penetrate computer systems and devices, and that means Calgary-based businesses must be vigilant about protecting critical data.

That’s why CTECH Consulting Group provides Calgary businesses with high-level protections that provide safeguards to help our valued community members recover from a cyber attack. These are protocols CTECH recommends to help Calgary-area outfits recover from critical incidents from ransomware, viruses, malware, social engineering, and potential data breaches.

Identify and Minimize Cyber Attack Damage

It is not uncommon for businesses to discover they have been hacked months after the crime has been committed. This scenario is particularly prevalent in companies that employ only minimal safeguards and fail to work with a cybersecurity professional. Monitoring systems and assessing vulnerabilities continues to be a strong deterrent against data breaches.

Even among organizations that outsource cybersecurity, technology continues to evolve quickly, and hackers are always looking for new ways to penetrate honest endeavours. A critical first step to recovering from a breach includes the following protocols.

• Determine the time and date of the incident.
• Quickly assess how customers may be affected.
• Determine which business assets have been impacted.
• Investigate the cyber attack method.
• Identify potential victims from the breach.

It’s imperative that businesses have professionals in place who can act swiftly to contain the problem and remove it promptly. Sensitive data must be separated and placed in a secure location immediately. It’s likely that the entire system may need to be reset, new login information created, affected files isolated or deleted, programs reinstalled, security patches applied and much more.

Those with an IT department in place would be wise to also reach out to a consulting group such as CTECH who have team members with specific expertise that can be brought to the table. It’s likely that the entire network may need to be retooled piece by piece.

Inform Important Customers and Stakeholders

When a company suffers a critical cyber attack, decision-makers are sometimes overwhelmed by the fear their customers will abandon them due to information exposure. The desire to contain the damage by keeping knowledge in-house tends to be a poor one.

Several major corporations such as Equifax and Google continue to make headlines for not informing customers, users, and the general public in a timely fashion about breaches. Failure to disclose may lead to expensive lawsuits and tarnish a business’ reputation far more than the breach. Fortune, for example, continued to cover the incident a year after it happened. As they say, sometimes the cover-up is worse than the crime.

Regarding a cyber attack, it’s important to remember the hacker is the evildoer, not the honest business owner who earns a living for their family and employs community members. Hacked businesses are victims in a crime that could have begun halfway around the globe. By promptly informing customers and stakeholders who may be impacted, the organization’s reputation and standing are far more likely withstand the incident.

Part of the rehabilitation process will have a consulting professional in place. The ability to point to a Calgary outfit such as CTECH Consulting Group that has earned a reputation for resolving cyber incidents and putting stringent protection protocols in place will go a long way to regaining trust.

Protect Against a Future Cyber Attack

It’s essential for business leaders to understand that hackers no longer go after big corporations. Today’s cybercriminal knows how to leverage personal information, critical industry data and even hold a company hostage through ransomware attacks.

As Forbes points out, ransomware has emerged as a significant business threat. Although major corporations make headlines when breached, hackers are generally more interested in profiting from any company that shows a vulnerability. In other words, hackers are trolling the internet looking for the low hanging fruit. These are ways that CTECH can help you from being easily harvested by hackers.

• Create Cyber Policy: Set a standard policy for all employees and systems users that safeguards data and provides enhanced security.
• Update Systems: Among the key reasons that hackers penetrate systems is lack of ongoing maintenance and updates. Business systems require routine maintenance, security updates, and monitoring.
• Utilize The Cloud: The minimal monthly cost of cloud services can provide a secure location to store and backup vital data that can be accessed in the event of a ransomware attack or a system becoming infected by a virus.
• Systems Analysis: Too many businesses add firewalls and filters to enhance their security measures. This will not necessarily solve a company’s vulnerability issues. By scrutinizing an outfit’s servers, programs, and internal policies among others, the true vulnerabilities can be unveiled and adequately managed.

Perhaps the best way to prevent a cyber attack is to work with a consulting firm dedicated to protecting your company from nefarious intrusions. I can assure you that CTECH Consulting Group will work diligently to help your Calgary company recover from a cyber attack and put protections in place going forward.

Written by Carl Fransen

posted on December 29, 2018

Carl Fransen

My passion is to make my mark on the world in a positive and lasting way. I want to set an example for my son that his father can compete with integrity in today’s world, be very successful, and leave the world a better place for him.

Combining my technical/business-based education with a long career steadily progressing up the corporate ladder, I decided to build a company that held true to my values. So, I founded and designed the next generation of IT support firm: CTECH Consulting Group Inc. We are a completely automated, cloud-based IT company designed to compete against any other IT firm without the overhead. We promote a lifestyle to all our staff where they can work anywhere, at any time, access any information on any device that is relevant to their job, and collaborate with anyone they want to.