Global systems integrator Dimension Data has urged regional organisations to conduct regular IT security cyber ‘fire drills’, to be better prepared in case of a security breach.
Neil Campbell, group general manager for Dimension Data’s Security Business Unit, said technologies and services focused on incident response, rather than just incident prevention should be one of the trends high on the agendas of security professionals in 2015.
He said data breaches such as the March 2014 Target hack, the biggest retail hack in US history, as well as allegations of state-sponsored hacking, are a strong warning that organisations need to move beyond focusing purely on the prevention of security incidents and start to concentrate on what they will do when an incident occurs.
“It’s inevitable that security incidents will occur. It’s therefore critical that organisations begin to focus on identifying what we call ‘indicators of compromise’, putting a comprehensive incident response plan in place, and performing regular IT security cyber fire drills,” explained Campbell.
He pointed out the regular cyber fire drills or rehearsals, will ensure that, in the event of an incident, IT and management teams are clear about what needs to be done, and the business is less at risk. “This includes recovering evidence, identifying and resolving the root cause of the incident (not just the symptoms), and undertaking a forensic investigation,” Campbell added.
