What Should I Do If I Suspect a Data Breach at My Business?

In Short

• If you suspect a data breach, immediately consult your incident response plan to guide your next steps.

• Indicators of a breach include unexpected system behaviour, unfamiliar software, missing data or unauthorised changes to your website.

• Promptly identify and contain the breach, assess its impact and determine if notification to affected individuals or authorities is required.

Tips for Businesses

Prepare for potential data breaches by developing a comprehensive response plan tailored to your business’s needs. Train employees to recognise signs of breaches and respond appropriately. Regularly update security measures and review your response plan to ensure effectiveness. Being proactive can minimise damage and maintain customer trust.

Summarise with: ChatGPT Perplexity Microsoft Copilot

---

Table of Contents

• What is a Data Breach?
• Indications of a Data Breach
• The Aftermath of a Data Breach
• Key Takeaways
• Frequently Asked Questions

Many businesses store all of their information online or in digital databases. This is convenient, can reduce costs, and has a lower environmental impact. Digital storage means you can find information more efficiently in a digital database, whereas you may have had to trawl through filing cabinets in the past. However, this greater connectivity means that it is easier to lose information in a data breach. The consequences of a data breach can be devastating, depending on the nature of the information lost. Therefore, you should plan for what to do in the event of a data breach to mitigate these consequences. This article will outline some potential indicators of a data breach and what to do in the aftermath.

What is a Data Breach?

The exact nature of a data breach varies depending on the kind of data compromised. However, it generally refers to when something releases your business’ private and confidential information into an unintended environment. This can include:

• an unauthorised person gaining access to your information; or
• the data becoming publicly available.

A data breach can result in unauthorised individuals misusing or sharing your business’ confidential data. They may use it for personal gain or harm either your business or others. Examples of confidential data can include:

• personal information of both your customers and employees, such as names or phone numbers;
• sensitive business data, such as financial accounts;
• personal health information;
• reputation-damaging information; or
• intellectual property, such as trade secrets.

NZ Website Privacy Policy

This Website Privacy Policy states how a business will deal with the personal information of its users.

Download Now

Indications of a Data Breach

It may not always be easy to spot a data breach, so it is vital to recognise its potential signs. Such indications may include;

• digital systems running unusually slow;
• unfamiliar software on your office desktops;
• missing information from your databases;
• messages from your website provider about suspicious activity;
• passwords not working; or
• business website content you had not approved.

Unfortunately, you can never completely eliminate the risk of a data breach. Therefore, you must implement adequate security controls to avoid them. Otherwise, you run the risk of reputational damage, losing customer trust, and legal penalties.

The Aftermath of a Data Breach

If you suspect a data breach, then the first thing you should do is check your incident response plan if you have one. This plan will outline the steps you need to take to mitigate lasting damage to your business and its processes. If you do not have one, ensure you develop one after dealing with the problem. Following a breach, implement preventative measures to stop the same thing from happening again. In the meantime, you should complete the following tasks.

Identify the Breach and Limit Its Harm

The first thing you need to do is stop any further information from being spread. If the leak is ongoing, disconnect any systems that an unauthorised person can access remotely. Do not shut down your systems, or else you may lose evidence of the breach. Reset any access passwords and stop connections between systems to limit spread if the breach was due to a virus.

Next, check security and access logs to find out how the breach happened. Note down everything that has happened so far, including how you noticed the issue and what it has affected, such as your website or email accounts. Try to retain as much evidence as possible.

Evaluate Its Effects

Once you have stopped any further spread of information, you need to identify the full impact of the breach. This means finding out:

• the nature of the information lost;
• how much data leaked; 
• who has the information now; 
• who the breach has affected; and
• how harmful the lost information was.

Report When Necessary

The next step is to determine whether you have to report this breach. If the information affected was personal information likely to cause serious harm, you must notify the Privacy Commission. You should notify the relevant individual unless informing them would cause greater harm than the breach itself.

Key Takeaways

A data breach occurs when something releases confidential information into an unintended environment, such as the hands of an unauthorised person or to the public. To deal with a breach, you should take steps to limit its spread, determine its cause, and identify its consequences. You must also comply with your legal obligations and report where necessary.

If you would like more information, our experienced data, privacy and IT lawyers can assist as part of our LegalVision membership. For a low monthly fee, you will have unlimited access to lawyers to answer your questions and draft and review your documents. Call us today on 0800 447 119 or visit our membership page.

Frequently Asked Questions