Cybersecurity
Protect Yourself: 8 Steps to Take When You Get a Notice Your Data Was Breached
When a vendor or service provider is breached, your business and your employees can be exposed. Here are eight steps to take when a breach notice arrives, from confirming the notice is real to checking your own notification duties.
Sooner or later, a letter or email arrives saying that a company you do business with was breached and your information was involved. It might be addressed to you personally, to one of your employees, or to the business itself because a vendor, software provider, or payment processor lost control of your data.
You cannot undo another company's breach. You can limit what an attacker does with the stolen information. Here are eight steps for business owners and their staff to take when a breach notice arrives.
1. Confirm the Notice Is Real
Criminals send fake breach notices to trick people into clicking a link, calling a fake support number, or "verifying" account details. Do not use the links or phone numbers in the message. Go to the company's website directly, or call a number you already have, and confirm the breach and the instructions.
2. Read the Notice Carefully
Find out exactly what was exposed: passwords, email addresses, Social Security numbers, bank or card details, or customer records. Note when the breach happened and what the company is offering, such as free credit monitoring. Check the company's website for updates, because the known scope of a breach often grows as the investigation continues.
3. Change Passwords, Starting with Reused Ones
Change the password for the breached service first. Then change it anywhere the same or a similar password was used, starting with email, banking, and Microsoft 365 or other work accounts. Password reuse is what turns one company's breach into a breach of your business. A business password manager makes unique passwords practical for everyone on your team.
4. Turn On Multi-Factor Authentication
Multi-factor authentication keeps an account protected even if the password is stolen. Enable it on the breached service and on every important account. Authenticator apps are stronger than text message codes, and passkeys or FIDO2 security keys are stronger still, because they cannot be captured by a fake sign-in page.
5. Watch Bank and Card Accounts Closely
If payment details or bank information were exposed, review statements and online banking activity for several weeks, and ask the bank to replace exposed cards. Report suspicious activity right away. Federal consumer protections for unauthorized electronic transfers apply to personal accounts, not business accounts, so a business can carry more of the loss. Ask your bank about fraud controls for business accounts, such as positive pay and ACH debit blocks.
6. Freeze Personal Credit Where Needed
If Social Security numbers or other identity details were exposed, the affected people should freeze their credit with all three national credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. A freeze is free and blocks most new accounts from being opened in that person's name. It can be lifted temporarily when they need to apply for credit. Take advantage of any credit monitoring the breached company offers as well.
7. Expect Targeted Phishing
Stolen email addresses and account details fuel follow-up scams. Attackers may pose as the breached company, a bank, or one of your vendors, and they use AI to make those messages convincing. Be especially wary of requests to change payment instructions or bank account details. Verify any such request by calling a known phone number before acting.
8. Check Your Own Obligations and Defenses
If the breached company held data about your customers or patients, talk with counsel about whether you have notification or reporting duties of your own. Our post on data breach damage control covers the Texas, Tennessee, FTC Safeguards Rule, and HIPAA timelines. Then review how the breach could reach your own systems: make sure devices and software are updated, endpoint protection is running, and the breached vendor's access to your accounts is reviewed or revoked.
Managed Security Services You Can Count On
A breach at someone else's company is a good moment to check your own defenses. Cyber One Solutions helps businesses in Texas and Tennessee protect accounts, devices, and email with layered security, and responds quickly when credentials are exposed. Learn about our managed cybersecurity services or contact us to review your protections.