Data Breach Risks, Solutions, and Incident Response Plan Report

This report addresses a data breach scenario presented to the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) of the Department of Computer Science at the University of Hertfordshire by a government agency. The report begins with an introduction to the incident, emphasizing the need for a robust risk analysis. It then delves into business continuity planning and defines data breaches, outlining associated risks such as those involving Personally Identifiable Information (PII), financial information, legal data, and IT security data. The report proposes solutions, including anti-virus software, firewalls, system upgrades, data backup and recovery, and security controls. It underscores the importance of an incident response plan for mitigating the impact of security breaches and highlights the value of intelligence information in developing actionable leads. The conclusion emphasizes the effectiveness of incident response planning for the government agency and suggests the CISO's role in mitigating future data breaches.

Business Continuity
and Incident
Response
Name of the Student
Name of the University

Introduction
The Chief Information Security Officer
or CISO of the Department of Computer
Science at the University of
Hertfordshire have been contacted by a
government agency for informing to
have stronger indications any data
breach, which includes critical data for
the Department of Computer Science. A
proper risk analysis of data breach is
required in this case.

Incident Background in the Government
Agency
A data breach had been occurred
recently in a specific government
agency. This type of data breach is
extremely dangerous for any
organization and should be eradicated
under every circumstance. This type of
data breach involves critical data. They
have contacted the CISO for
Department of Computer Science at
the University of Hertfordshire for this
purpose.

Incident Contd…
Although, the government agency has
contacted the Chief Information
Security Officer of the Department of
Computer Science at the University of
Hertfordshire and this CISO has decided
to initialize the incident response and
investigation processes; CISO realized
that his team is not well prepared.

Business Continuity
Planning Business continuity planning or
BCP is the plan that helps in
ensuring that the business
processes could continue during
the time of disaster (Andress
2014).
 These specific disasters might not
occur under normal conditions.
 The businesses should check for
the potential threats for ensuring
continued operations.

Data Breach
 Data breach can be stated as the
security incident, where information
would be accessed without
authorization (Disterer 2013).
 These data breaches could affect
the businesses as well as
consumers in a variety of ways.
 This data breach is the intentional
or unintentional release of
confidential information.

Data Breach Contd..
 Data breach involves disclosure of
unintentional information, data
spilling and data leakage (Von Solms
and Van Niekerk 2013).
 This data breach is the security
incident, where confidential or
sensitive information is being
transmitted or stolen.
 Data breach has occurred in the
government agency.

Risks to Data Breach
The major and the most significant risks to
the data breach are as follows:
 Personally Identifiable Information:
It involves data like social security
number and other personal information
and such data is hacked.
 Financial Information: It includes the
expiry dates, investment details and
charge card numbers and these should
be protected under every circumstance.

Risks Contd…
The other risks for data breach are as
follows:
 Legal Information: The next
important data breach target is legal
information. Since, it is a government
agency, legal data should be
protected (McIlwraith 2016).
 IT Security Data: The usernames,
passwords, security strategies,
network structure and encryption keys
are to be protected efficiently.

Solutions to the Risks in
Data Breach
The major solutions to the risks within
the data breach are as follows:
 Implementation of Anti Virus
Software: The proper
implementation of an anti virus
software is one of the most effective
and efficient solution for such risks
(Jouini, Rabai and Aissa 2014).
 Implementing Firewalls: Firewalls
act as the walls for intrusion entry.

Solutions Contd..
 Up gradation of Systems: The several
systems should be upgraded regularly
for resolving these types of issues in the
government agency (Disterer 2013).
 Backup and Recovery of Data:
Regular backup and recovery of data is
also effective to resolve issues like data
breaching.
 Configuring Security Controls: The
configuring of security controls is
effective for such issues.

Importance of Incident Response Plan
 The incident response plan is
extremely effective and efficient
strategy for eradicating the security
breach or data breach in the
government agency.
 It is effective for handling cyber
security incidents.
 Incident response plan could even
reduce the impact when they are
occurring.