It’s not if, it’s when.
From innocent human error to bad actor criminality, a data breach is an inevitable consequence for communication technology vendors.
This most-feared of events can wreak untold havoc on victims: monetary loss, reputational disaster, fines. Indeed, in the case of small businesses in particular, 60% of those who suffer a breach are gone altogether within six months.
Experts in data protection are brutal in their assessment of the risk, asserting that preventing a breach ever occurring is simply impossible. However, they can support telcos and Managed Service Providers in being as prepared as possible and help mitigate the effects when disaster does strike.
With the complexity of communication technology intensifying all of the time - and the volume of data increasing exponentially - they are essential, often out-sourced, specialists capable of delivering a level of return on investment that is impossible to overstate.
Picking the right one is about as important as it gets.
“We deal with two or three data breaches a week and we have a tried and tested process to help organisations recover, however we are seeing an alarming increase in frequency and severity – advanced preparedness is the differentiator between a business that survives and one that does not,” says Dr Scott Allendevaux, senior practice lead at the UC professional services practice Allendevaux & Company, which helps enterprises all over the world achieve and maintain that preparedness and respond when a breach occurs.
“Telcos and MSPs should think of themselves as a city in the context of a fire risk. Every city will experience a fire because they are impossible to prevent. But cities are prepared because they have proactively employed firefighters with the right equipment who know how to respond. If they had not, then cities would burn down. Businesses at risk of data breach must be proactive too.”
In Allendevaux’s case, that means ensuring its UC provider customers are kept up to date with threat intelligence and emerging vulnerabilities; can execute a tested incident response plan comprising clear responsibility and communication protocols; carry out regular audits and security risk assessments; and have in place an effective and perpetual employee training programme.
In the case of a breach occurring, its customers are often contracted by end users to activate a written and agreed response plan that requires specific actions within specific tight time frames.
“It is obviously essential to detect, identify, and contain a data breach as soon as possible,” says Allendevaux.
