The Good News
The good news: Barriers to improving data breach response can easily be solved.
While 83 percent of companies stated that conducting fire drills would make their response plans more effective, less than half of the respondents report practicing and auditing their plan on an annual basis. This could easily be resolved as difficulty scheduling is the cited as the top reason why companies don't practice their response plan.
Other relatively straight-forward steps for improving data breach response plans include ensuring contact information for all members of the data breach response team is provided and outlining procedures for communications with business partners if a breach occurs (61 percent currently don't include either of these considerations in their response plans).
Study Finds More Companies Have Data Breach Response Plan, But Still Lack Crucial Steps
Study Finds More Companies Have Data Breach Response Plan, But Still Lack Crucial Steps
Amidst today's threat landscape, it is a positive sign that businesses have acknowledged data breaches as a corporate issue they must prepare for. Research shows business leaders are now more aware of the detrimental impact a data breach has on brand reputation. However – after reviewing three years of survey data on how executives are preparing for a data breach – it is surprising to report that many are still struggling to feel confident in their ability to manage a breach and execute a response plan.
According to Experian Data Breach Resolution's Third Annual Study: Is Your Company Ready for a Big Data Breach?, 81 percent of companies now have a baseline data breach response plan in place, but only 34 percent of executives view those plans as effective. This can be largely attributed to significant holes in the response plans in terms of the types of data breaches they should prepare for.
Based on the survey of 604 executives and staff employees who work in privacy and compliance fields in the U.S., the following slideshow examines the current state of data breach preparedness in corporate America and steps security decision-makers can take to improve their incident response plans.
