For small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), cybersecurity incidents are often not a matter of if but when. Limited resources and growing digital footprints make SMBs prime targets for cyber-attacks, but how an organization responds can determine how quickly the business recovers.

In this installment of our Fraud, Cyber and Security Smarts series, we share best practices to help SMBs respond effectively to cybersecurity incidents. From containing threats and communicating clearly to restoring systems and strengthening long-term defenses, this blog outlines practical steps every organization can take to minimize disruption and build resilience in the face of evolving cyber risks.

Q.        If a business suspects a cyber-attack, what’s the first step they should take?

If an attack is suspected, the first step that any business should take is to contain the incident. Containment involves isolating the affected systems to prevent any further damage by disconnecting the compromised devices from the network, disabling remote access or shutting down the affected servers. Prompt containment is a critical business strategy because it helps limit the spread of the attack and helps preserve evidence for investigation.

Q.        What does an effective incident response plan for an SMB look like?

An incident response plan (IRP) serves as a roadmap for how an organization prepares for, manages and recovers from cybersecurity threats or data breaches. It provides clear guidance to confirm every stage of a security event is handled quickly, efficiently and consistently. IRPs contain several key components that define how your organization will respond when an incident occurs, including:

• Purpose and scope: Establishes the plan objectives and outlines where and when to apply it.
• Roles and responsibilities: Identifies the key stakeholders who support each aspect of the response team, including the shared responsibility of reinforcing cybersecurity across the organization.
• Incident response phases:
  • Preparation: Focuses on building readiness by implementing monitoring and detection tools, such as:
    • Security Information and Event Management (SIEM), which aggregates and evaluates log data from systems across the network to provide centralized visibility into potential security threats and unusual activity.
    • Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR), along with other readiness measures continuously monitors and analyzes activity on individual devices, such as laptops, servers and workstations, to identify, investigate and mitigate suspicious behavior.
    • Incident response team training and tabletop exercises involving a discussion-based drill or activity where the facilitator walks through a real-life scenario, such as a ransomware attack.
  • Detection and analysis: Involves identifying, validating and assessing potential security events through systems, such as:
    • Intrusion Detection System (IDS), which examines network traffic and system operations to identify malicious behavior or policy violations and notifies security teams when anomalies are detected.
    • Intrusion Prevention System (IPS), which builds on IDS capabilities by automatically blocking them as they occur in real time.
  • Containment, eradication and recovery: Limiting the spread of the incident, removing malicious elements and restoring affected systems, including actions like isolating compromised networks and applying software patches.
  • Post-incident activity: Evaluates the organization’s response, determines root causes and refines processes to strengthen future defenses.
• Communication protocols: Outlines how information flows during an incident, specifically who should be informed, how updates are shared internally and what external disclosures or regulatory notifications are required.
• Severity levels: Classifies incidents by impact and urgency, establishing clear response timelines and escalation procedures for each level.
• Documentation and reporting: Describes how evidence is collected and maintained, such as logs, screenshots and event timelines, to support recovery, audits and post-incident analysis.

Q.        How should companies evaluate the security practices of third-party vendors?

Evaluating the security practices of third-party vendors and only selecting vendors with safe practices is critical to an organization remaining cyber safe. The best way to evaluate a company is to follow these steps:

1. Request Security Documentation. Examples include penetration tests, security operations center reports, guidelines of security practices, data privacy policy, artificial intelligence (AI) policy or other policies such as information security policy. Quite often vendors have trust portals and individuals can request access online. If not, a non-disclosure agreement may need to be signed for documentation to be provided.
2. Security Questionnaire. Security questionnaires typically assess areas, such as data protection policies, network security practices, compliance certifications and incident response procedures. These evaluations help organizations identify potential risks, provide regulatory compliance and verify that third-party partners maintain strong security standards before sensitive information is shared. You can use services like Security Scorecard to send questionnaires to third-party vendors, or you may decide to send your questionnaire directly to the potential vendor.
3. Security Scans. There is a plethora of open-source scanning tools that can be used to analyze a company’s security posture, such as Qualys, Immuniweb, MXToolbox and Securityheaders.com. These passive scans will allow a security professional to make sure that a company’s website and login portals are secure. However, while these scanning tools can provide insights, they should complement formal assessments.

Q.        How do you recommend businesses handle data backups and recovery to minimize downtime after an incident?

Every business should have a clear disaster recovery plan that spells out how operations will bounce back after an interruption. That plan should define key benchmarks like Recovery Time Objectives (RTO)—the maximum amount of downtime your organization can tolerate—and Recovery Point Objectives (RPO), which determine how much data loss is acceptable. For many critical systems, that window aims for  less than four hours.

To minimize downtime and keep data safe, it’s best to replicate information in real or near real time to a secondary location. That way, if something goes wrong, your systems can fail over: automatically switching from a primary system to a standby system when the primary system fails, becomes available or is under attack—quickly with little to no disruption.

No matter the size of your business, being prepared for a cybersecurity incident can make the difference between a quick recovery and lasting damage. Building a clear response plan, vetting third-party vendors and maintaining strong backup and recovery strategies all play a vital role in business resilience. By taking proactive steps, SMBs can strengthen their defenses, protect sensitive data and respond with confidence when the unexpected happens.

To stay in the know about the latest fraud, cyber and security trends, connect with fellow human resources (HR), payroll, benefits and talent professionals in the isolved People Heroes Community.

^{Disclaimer: The information provided herein is for general informational purposes only and is not intended to be legal, investment or tax advice. It is not a substitute for professional legal, investment or tax advice, and you should not rely on it as such. No attorney-client or accountant-client relationship or any other kind of relationship is formed by any use of this information. The effective date of various provisions, amendments, and regulatory guidance may impact eligibility. The accuracy, completeness, correctness or adequacy of the information is not guaranteed, and isolved assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions in the content. You should consult with an attorney, investment professional or tax professional for advice regarding your specific situation.}

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