Do This Right Now to Ease the Stress of a Cybersecurity Incident

Let’s get right to brass tacks. Your business is likely vulnerable to cybersecurity attacks. There are a whole lot of things you should be doing to protect your organization, but this one task is something you can do right now to save your business a lot of stress if something were to take down your network and cause a major disruption.

Build an Emergency Contact Sheet as a Part of Your Business Continuity Plan

Yep, it sounds simple. In fact, it’s probably something that you already have, but let’s make sure that it’s up-to-date and includes some good information that will help you and your staff in case there is a major disruption to your business.

What do we mean by a disruption?

Let’s assume you can’t access any of your systems; your line of business apps, your email, your contacts, and the documents on your server. Let’s assume that something big locks you and your staff out of everything for a day or two.

It’s not ideal, and obviously we want businesses to work with us to be more prepared for this, and have safeguards in place to prevent this type of threat. Even so, having a really good contact list is going to be key for communication.

Open up a Word document and list out the name and personal phone number of each employee, starting with management. Note if that number is a cell phone (so you know which numbers can be texted). 

Next, list out emergency contact information—the local fire department, police, 911, etc. List out insurance contact information. If you have an alarm company, add them to the list, and other vendors you might need to reach. We recommend adding (254) 848-7100 so you can call us if you need help.

Finally, depending on your business, you may want to add some of your biggest, most important clients to that list. You’ll want to contact them first thing and let them know that there may be a disruption of services.

If one morning you get alerted that your entire network is down and nobody can access anything, you’ll be so glad you had this.

That’s a Good Start, But Business Continuity Doesn’t End There

Having a thorough, tested business continuity plan is an important tool for any organization. Communication is key, and you’ll want to be able to keep your staff and customers in the loop if something disrupts your services.

At Heart of Texas Network Consultants, we help businesses prepare for emergencies with our iron-clad data backup and disaster recovery services, and we can help protect your business from online threats and other problems that could cause major disruptions.

For more information, give us a call today at (254) 848-7100.