Data loss events are unfortunately common. There are many scenarios that can result in the corruption, loss, or exposure of sensitive data. This is a largely detrimental situation for any business—but can be even worse for a bank.
Improperly guarding against or handling a data loss event can lead to financial institutions failing to adhere to government regulations and losing customer trust.
These events can be the result of the efforts of a cybercriminal, natural disaster, or even simply an error by a team member. A thorough data security plan will do well to protect your bank against many of these scenarios, but it’s impossible to guarantee complete security against a data loss event.
So what should you do if your Salesforce system data becomes compromised or exposed? How do you mitigate the damage, protect your employees and customers, and remain in compliance with government data security regulations?
Here are 7 steps banks should take after a Salesforce data loss event:
1. Assess What Data Was Lost or Exposed
The first step is to figure out what areas of your Salesforce system—and what sets of data—were compromised, lost, or exposed. The type and quantity of data will dictate how you will need to proceed.
Once you ascertain which data has been affected, you should ensure that whatever caused the event is put to a stop.
For instance, if a cybercriminal was able to access your information through a faulty log-in process, change all passwords and institute double authentication. Proceeding through the following steps won’t be beneficial if the leak, exposure, or accident continue to compromise more information.
2. Report Event to Applicable Government Agency and Affected Customers
Federal and state laws are currently in place that require banks located in the US to notify their pertinent regulatory bodies in the event of a data breach. A grouping of agencies put forth a proposal at the end of 2020 that requires banks to notify federal regulators within 36 hours after a “computer-security incident.”
Transparency after a Salesforce data loss event is important and must be a priority.
Informing regulating bodies of a data breach is important to remain in accordance with laws and regulations. However, these aren’t the only notifications that need to be sent.
Banks handle a lot of sensitive information—personally identifiable information (PII), financial data, and more. The level of sensitivity of this data means it can have a negative effect on customers should their information become compromised.
It is a bank’s duty to inform affected customers so they can take precautionary measures and protect themselves against further harm.
3. Recover Data From a Backup Repository
Returning to operations is going to be a priority after a data loss event. System data, personal data, and metadata will all impact how your Salesforce system functions. This will also function your ability to conduct business and provide essential services to your customers.
A current data backup repository and the ability to quickly restore it are essential to returning your system to operations.
Regulatory compliance will require a certain degree of backed up data. Completely losing sensitive information can open banks to fines and penalties. But aside from that, a failure to maintain current backups will have drastic effects on your business.
This information should be recovered as soon as possible to restore operations and minimize lost revenue. Your customers will need access to their information, and your bank will benefit from providing it.
4. Contact Legal Representative
Data loss events can have a wide impact on many people. There are a lot of factors and possible results that need to be considered. And even if you consider yourself very good at researching these matters, you’re never going to have as much information as an expert.
Get in touch with your legal representative to ensure you have met all reporting requirements and to discuss any potential liabilities as a result of the data loss event.
The requirements for each bank will differ depending on the location of your bank, with whom you do business, and what specific information was affected.
5. Analyze How the Event Occurred
Now that your bases are covered as far as notifications and returning your system to operations, it’s time to figure out how this happened so you can work toward avoiding it in the future.
Work backwards from the Salesforce data loss event to determine the cause.
Running various access reports and system audits should be able to point you toward the moment of incitation. Cybercrime, for instance, can usually be traced back to a phishing email or breach of data access security. An error by a team member can be traced through access logs.
These tools should be utilized to learn more about how a data loss event occurred. From there, you can begin working on measures that can be taken to avoid it happening again.
6. Institute New Policies to Protect Against Cause
Take what you’ve learned through analyzing the event and discuss it with your colleagues. What tools can be implemented to guard against this in the future? Are there any best practices that can be communicated with team members that will reduce the likelihood of a repeat occurrence?
There is an opportunity to learn from every mistake—and a data loss event is no different.
The more you learn about the cause of the event, the more equipped you will be to guard against it in the future. Take your time. Run tests on any new procedures or tools to verify their effectiveness.
7. Examine Current Toolset
A major aspect of protecting yourself against Salesforce data loss events in the future is to consider which tools you currently have in place to protect your system.
We’ve mentioned the importance of a data backup and recovery system. If you don’t currently use a backup and recovery tool, you need to start immediately.
Your Salesforce DevOps pipeline can be a great asset. Introducing secure updates and applications goes a long way to preventing future data loss events. Utilizing a complete Automated Release Management system not only produces better products, it also ensures structural stability to prevent software crashes and data security vulnerabilities.