Deloitte Mock a Cyberattack to Teach Business How to Respond

 
A security breach or big data loss can trigger an emergency for the entire business, not just for the IT or security teams, so staffers from multiple departments must know how to react effectively in such situations.
This was one of the main lessons taught in a cyber incident war-gaming exercise held for the media in New York by consulting firm Deloitte. Deloitte typically conducts such exercises on behalf of large organizations that want to prepare for when they are hit by a major computer breach. In the event, the participants were executives from various companies.
The exercise is designed to prompt organizations to make decisions so "if there is a cyber-incident, it is better prepared," said Mary Galligan, who is Deloitte's director of cyber risk services and a former FBI agent with experience in online crimes.
Typically, security and IT staff in most organizations are aware of the probability of cybercrimes and are trained to react quickly should one occur. Other business departments of an organization are not usually as aware of what their roles would be in such a scenario, Galligan said. Even those executives who are well equipped to manage a crisis find that "a cyber incident happens faster than anything that they've been used to before," Galligan said.

This work includes not only finding out how the information leaked out and then correcting the problem, but also handling a range of secondary issues. The company must craft a media message and contact all the affected patrons. It must use social media and train its own employees to reassure customers that the retail establishment has taken the breach quite seriously. It must also work with business partners, merchandise manufacturers and banks to ensure they don't sue the company for damages. It must readjust its sales projections, as well as inventory levels, to handle the lull in business that will probably occur in the months to come. 
Finally, they need to answer to the company's board of directors, who are often angrily looking for how these issues are being addressed.
Computerworld: http://bit.ly/1E1E6Nl