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Discovering that your business has been hacked can be overwhelming. Systems are down, data may be stolen, and the pressure is on to react quickly. But what you do in the first few hours can make all the difference.

Here’s a practical, step-by-step guide to follow if you suspect — or confirm — a cyber attack.

1. Stay Calm and Think Strategically

It’s natural to panic — but hasty decisions can make things worse. Your first goal should be containment and documentation, not immediate cleanup or blame. Assemble your response team (internal or external) and initiate your incident response protocol.

2. Isolate the Affected Systems

Disconnect compromised machines or services from the network. This helps prevent further spread, especially in cases like ransomware or worms. If a specific user account or API key was compromised, disable or revoke it immediately.

3. Preserve Evidence

Before wiping or rebooting anything, preserve logs, traffic captures, screenshots, or memory dumps. These are crucial for:

• Understanding what happened
• Knowing what data was affected
• Fulfilling legal or regulatory obligations

Even if you’re not sure what’s important, collect as much as possible — Cyber Dream and other experts can analyze it later.

4. Notify the Right People

Depending on the severity and your legal obligations, you may need to notify:

• Internal leadership or board of directors
• External IT or cybersecurity consultants
• Customers or partners (if their data is affected)
• Regulators (e.g., CNIL in France, within 72 hours for GDPR breaches)
• Cyber insurance provider, if applicable

Transparent communication is essential — both legally and reputationally.

5. Conduct Root Cause Analysis

With your systems stabilized, your next task is to understand how the attack happened:

• Was it a phishing email? A weak password? An unpatched system?
• How did the attacker gain initial access?
• What lateral movement or persistence was involved?

Cyber Dream uses a combination of forensic analysis and log correlation to map out the full timeline and impact.

6. Remediate and Secure

Once the threat is understood and neutralized, begin restoring services in a controlled way:

• Apply patches and reset credentials
• Restore from known-good backups (after verifying integrity)
• Rebuild compromised systems from scratch if needed
• Harden the environment to prevent repeat attacks

Use this opportunity to fix root causes, not just the symptoms.

7. Debrief and Improve

Once things are stable, hold a post-incident review:

• What went well? What didn’t?
• Were detection and response times adequate?
• Is your team trained for this type of incident?

Document lessons learned and update your incident response plan accordingly.

How Cyber Dream Can Help

We offer 24/7 emergency response, forensic investigations, and post-incident hardening. Whether you're facing a live threat or preparing for one, we help reduce downtime and protect your data.

Our services include:

• Rapid compromise assessment
• Incident containment and eradication
• Log analysis and timeline reconstruction
• Remediation guidance and infrastructure review

Conclusion

Cyber attacks are stressful — but survivable. With the right response, you can recover quickly, minimize damage, and come out stronger.

Don’t wait for disaster to strike. Have a plan. Train your team. Know who to call. And if the worst happens — Cyber Dream is ready to respond.