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Help! My Company Had a Data Breach - Now What?

Has your business experienced a data breach or cybersecurity breach? If you don’t have a policy in place that you can follow, you will need to act quickly to identify, mitigate, and resolve the data breach. 


Here is an example of a data breach response checklist you can use.



  1.  Conduct an initial assessment

  1. Determine the nature of the incident – Is it in fact a breach?

  2. Determine the type of information that has been exposed and the records involved

  3. Identify all affected systems, computers, and devices

  4. Assemble an incident response team (IT team, external consultants)

  1. Deploy breach mitigation efforts

    1. Determine if the breach is active and ongoing

    2. Determine the cause of the breach and mitigate

    3. Bring down affected systems as needed, communicate with clients

  2.  Notify third parties

    1. Impacted individuals

    2. State attorneys general

    3. Applicable regulators

    4. Credit reporting agencies

    5. Clients, customers, and partners (as may be required by agreements)

  3.  Preserve records of the breach and mitigation

    1. Preserve evidence of the breach, including log files

    2. Control the creation of new documents and records

    3. Document all efforts to investigate and mitigate the breach

    4. Involve legal counsel and consultants as necessary


  1. Post-breach

    1. Assess root cause of the breach

    2. Assess incident response process 

    3. Assess information security environment and resources 

Your company should customize this checklist based on its type of business, its location and the types of laws that govern your company's business.

Sound complicated? It is!

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