Who should you call when you suspect, or are certain of, a data
breach? Data breaches and other cybersecurity incidents have
become of a fact of life. Yahoo!
recently disclosed that data for over one billion
users was compromised in 2013. Hundreds of incidents
affecting millions of records
were reported in 2016 alone. So when — not if
— your company suffers a breach, a prompt and effective
response is crucial.
Below I examine who you should call, even if you're
not required to; who you must call, by operation of
statute or regulation; and who you can call, if
circumstances warrant.
The Experts: Who You Should Call
An effective response requires knowing the extent of the breach:
was there actually a breach, and if so, what kind and how much data
was compromised? A technical expert that
specializes in breach response can help answer this question, and
therefore should be one of your first calls. Beyond
identifying the scope of the breach, a technical
