You may not know this, but your cellphone is a little spy.

As you go through your day, your smartphone collects evidence that can be used to recreate your activity. If you take a photo or video, the phone records when and where. All your calls and text messages are logged. Surfing the internet on your phone? Your searches and visited websites are recorded (That’s true even if you are browsing incognito.) GPS data and WiFi connections can pinpoint the places you go.

No matter how well you train your people, and no matter how carefully you safeguard sensitive data and information, a data breach can happen.

If you already have a solid Incident Response Plan (IRP) in place, there is no need to panic. It will tell you what to do to get things under control again. If you do not already have such a plan, form one now. Contact experienced, certified professionals immediately and let them guide you through the proper steps.

If you have a plan in place, you know that step one is to notify your company’s operations professionals and business stakeholders immediately when a breach occurs. The next step is to follow your company’s IRP. The [...]

At the end of the year, it is customary to sum up, so today we will tell you about the mistakes that companies make when countering cyber threats. Our report describes the five most common errors encountered by our forensic specialists this year when investigating cyber incidents.

Data breaches only happen to large corporations, right? Wrong.

It is true that data breaches frequently target giant corporations and medical providers, and those organizations are smart to beef up their cyber security. Such breaches can affect millions of customers and cost companies thousands, if not millions, of dollars.

But many small business owners don’t realize they are targets, too. According to a Verizon Data Breach Investigation Report noted in a 2017 USA TODAY article, 61 percent of breaches hit smaller businesses. A typical cyber attack can cost a small business between $84,000 and $148,000.