The Importance of Cyber Incident Reporting

Incident reporting is important because it provides a way for New York Tech to document, respond, and learn from a cyber-attack. Incident reporting is an important part of New York Tech’s information security program as part of the incident response process.

Additionally, a security incident should be reported to Information Technology Services as soon as the attack has been detected. In many cases, individuals fail to do so out of embarrassment or fear that they will lose customer trust of their colleagues, friends, or the University. However, the faster an incident is reported, the faster ITS can identify the extent of the incident and work with all relevant parties to respond to the attack and then work to remediate the effects.

Below are some of the reasons why it is important to report a cyber incident as quickly as possible:

Ensure a Prompt Response and Remediation Action

Generally, the longer a cyber incident goes unreported, the more damage it will do. If a cyber criminal gains access to our network, the longer they have the access, the more information they will be able to gather, the more vulnerabilities they may be able to identify, and will allow them the time to possibly set up future attacks. The earlier the attack is identified, the sooner we can stop the attack and remediate any damage that may have been done, and keep our systems up and running properly and securely.

Builds Trust and Limits Damage to our Reputation

A cyber incident is not something any organization wants to navigate, but many organizations must. These incidents and how we respond can have a major effect on New York Tech’s reputation in the community and the trust of our faculty, staff, students, and perspective students. Its important to not only the current members of the New York Tech community, but also the past and future members, that their information they entrust to us remains safe and secure. Letting an incident go unreported can undermine that.

Improve Risk and Threat Awareness

Once an incident is reported, we immediately begin an investigation to learn exactly what happened and how it happened. This enables us to learn from it and better identify the cause, and ensure that it does not happen again. Reporting the incident does not only help New York Tech, but many other organizations, who may be informed of a threat or risk that they did not know existed. Information sharing between organizations is a major factor in preventing another cyber-attack.

If you would like to report a cyber incident please use the link below:
Report an Information Security Incident