Cyber incident response for small businesses.

Signs that something is wrong

• Files renamed, will not open, or a note demanding payment
• An email account sending messages you did not write, or password reset emails you did not ask for
• Unfamiliar logins, or sign-in approval prompts you did not trigger
• Customers or suppliers receiving odd invoices or requests to change bank details
• Devices behaving strangely, or software you do not recognise
• Money leaving an account that should not have

What we do

1. 1

   Contain

   Stop it spreading: isolate affected devices, lock down compromised accounts and cut off the attacker’s access.

2. 2

   Investigate

   Work out what happened, how they got in and which systems and data are affected.

3. 3

   Recover

   Restore from clean backups where they exist, and rebuild or clean affected devices and accounts.

4. 4

   Report & advise

   Help you understand what you may need to report, and to whom, such as the ICO, Action Fraud or your bank.

5. 5

   Prevent a repeat

   Close the gap that let it happen and put sensible protection in place.

If personal data may be involved, organisations generally must report serious breaches to the ICO within 72 hours of becoming aware of them. We can help you establish the facts so you can decide what to report. We cannot give legal advice.

Making it less likely next time

• Multi-factor authentication on email and key accounts
• Backups that are kept separately and actually tested
• Regular updates on computers, network equipment and software
• Email filtering and a bit of staff awareness around phishing
• Sensible access, so people only reach what they need

This sits alongside our everyday IT support in Tonbridge and network installation.

Common questions

How quickly can you help?

Call us and we will tell you what we can do and when. If it is urgent, say so at the start of the call.

Can you recover my data?

If you have good backups, usually yes. Without them the options are more limited and we will be honest about what is realistic. We cannot guarantee that lost data can be recovered.

Do I have to report it?

It depends on what happened and what data was affected. We can help you establish the facts, and the ICO has guidance on when a breach must be reported.