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Cybersecurity During Natural Disasters—What You Should Do

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27 September 2022

Natural disasters come without warning and can be massively destructive. When it comes to business, management teams often only consider the basics of cybersecurity, like strong passwords or antivirus software. However, there is much more that you should be concerned about in terms of cybersecurity during natural disasters.
To understand the real dangers to your business and systems, it is important to understand how hackers work. A hacker usually tries to hack into your systems and steal important, confidential information. However, this needs to be done at a time when you won’t detect or prevent it. 
When a natural disaster strikes, hackers take advantage of the panic-inducing situation where people are distracted. Since you are likely to be preoccupied with the immediate crisis situation, hackers take advantage and attack. 
This is why, to maintain strong cybersecurity during natural disasters, the experts at Redpalm recommend having a cybersecurity business plan. Let us guide you through what you should do.

Cybersecurity During Natural Disasters—3 Important Steps to Take

1. Preparation Before Natural Disaster

Natural disasters are quite unpredictable, however, some regions of the world face more natural disaster security threats than others. This type of information helps build the right kind of cyber security business plan for your organisation.
The first thing to consider when a natural disaster strikes, is the way your employees will react to it. It is natural to feel panic and get worried about loved ones in these situations, which is why they are not likely to think about potential threats to the organisation. 
For example, your employees are more likely to fall for phishing or spam emails during a natural disaster. A hacker can greatly benefit from this, putting your company at risk of a cyber-attack. To avoid this, it is important to hold employee training sessions that cover standard response procedures and cyber risk assessment. 
Another way to prepare for cybersecurity during natural disasters is to bring in cybersecurity experts. These people are professionals who pay attention to all current or future threats to the organisation and come up with effective solutions. When you do face a disaster, a cybersecurity expert will take care of protecting your business from cyber-attacks. 

2. Adopting a Proactive Approach

In the face of a natural disaster, your company’s IT teams need to work alongside cybersecurity experts to prevent a security breach. You need to ensure that all company data is backed up to a server that is separate from your main systems. In case of a loss of electricity or failure of emergency systems, you can still be sure that your data will be backed up.
Additionally, you need to decide what type of data must be salvaged. Your business data may be massive and it will not be possible to save everything. Your cybersecurity experts need to be made aware of what data is important so that it can be secured first. 
To prevent natural disaster effects on your business, you could also move all your data and essential information into a cloud service. This is a great solution for stronger cybersecurity during natural disasters. You will not lose any important programs or data, even if your office faces any damage. Moreover, a good cloud service will also offer real-time security, which protects your data, especially during natural disasters.

3. Maintaining Security Post Disaster

While you may have faced the worst of it when a natural disaster strikes, you also need to be careful about cybersecurity after a natural disaster. Even after the devastating event has passed, you are not necessarily free from threats. 
As soon as the event has passed, the first thing you should do is assess the total damage that has occurred. This includes checking your infrastructure and your systems, as well as any digital consequences of the disaster.
Next, you need to alert the cybersecurity experts to check whether there has been any instance of theft. They will help you assess all your IT environments for any malware or virus. They can also evaluate whether there are any stolen credentials or important company information that has been leaked on the Internet. Do not forget to monitor other platforms, like social media, for hackers or scammers trying to impersonate your organisation. 

Choose Redpalm for Cybersecurity Services 

As a business owner, you need to be aware of all the threats your business could face. Finding the best solution for you, especially in times of natural disasters, can be difficult.
However, that’s where Redpalm comes in. With years of experience in cybersecurity and disaster recovery, we can offer the best digital solutions for your business.
We can keep your data secure and build a robust plan to protect your business from cyber-attacks. We also offer a range of other solutions, like managed IT services, technology procurement and much more.
To get the best IT solutions for your business, get in touch with us today!

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