What to Do in the Event of a Data Breach
North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper recently gave a presentation on the “alarming rate” at which citizens of Charlotte and the state are falling victim to identity theft. To date in 2015, more than 1.1 million North Carolina residents have been affected by data breaches where criminals had access to their personal information.
Because of the prevalence of this problem, data compromises are sadly becoming less of a question of “if” but rather “when.” Businesses and individuals should take measures to prevent information breaches from common access avenues, but they should also develop a plan for addressing a breach should one occur.
Legal Obligation for Charlotte Businesses Affected by a Data Breach
Per the North Carolina Identity Theft Protection Act, all businesses must notify customers, employees or peripheral individuals like former applicants without “unreasonable delay.” This notification must include:
- A general description of the incident
- The type of personal information that was accessed
- A general description of the efforts to avoid further unauthorized access
- Contact details so the recipient can obtain ongoing information
- Advice for follow up measures that individual should take to monitor access or use of their information
Affected businesses must also release details of the incident to the NC Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division and the three major credit reporting agencies.
How Charlotte Businesses Should Respond to a Data Breach
Credit reporting bureau Experian provides advice for how businesses can respond in the immediate aftermath of discovering there has been a data breach:
- Make note of the date and time of when the breach was discovered and begin tracking dates and times for response efforts
- Alert top-level management, owners and related department heads
- If the data breach could have been the result of physical access, secure the premises around all accessible computer stations
- Disconnect all affected systems from your company network and the internet. Do not turn these systems off
- Document as much as you can about what is known regarding the incident as well as the timeline of discovery
- Supplement your documentation with recorded interviews or written statements
- Assess priorities and top risks
- Notify law enforcement of the incident. Provide them any materials you have
- Work with law enforcement or an outside forensic team to learn as much as you can about the incident along with who or what was affected
- Begin your notification efforts by documenting the names and information type of affected parties
Once data access has been limited and as much evidence as possible is gathered, businesses can recover by redoubling their efforts to reduce the risk of further data breaches. Law enforcement or your forensic computing team can approve for you to begin deleting or destroying unneeded stored information following the incident to prevent further unwanted access.
What People Are Saying About PROSHRED®
We have used Proshred services for more than 10 years. Recently we had a need to purge about 10 years of documents from our offsite... read moreWe have used Proshred services for more than 10 years. Recently we had a need to purge about 10 years of documents from our offsite storage location. They made the process easy via emails not wasting my time on the phone to get it set up. Made suggestions that would save us time and money. Discounted the extra service without making us ask or check other options to get all the archives shredded. The driver was simply AWESOME. He called to ask if he could arrive early and then assisted us with the process of emptying boxes into their containers to load them into the shred truck. He shredded 18 containers of paper onsite in a very reasonable amount of time without a single complaint or losing his smile. He was professional and polite as everyone I have dealt with from the Company. We can't thank him enough for his help as we worked him very hard that day! read less
Teresa Isenhour10/28/2018Proshred Charlotte is by far the best document shredding business in the Charlotte region. Their customer service is excellent and always consistent. Beacon Partners relies... read moreProshred Charlotte is by far the best document shredding business in the Charlotte region. Their customer service is excellent and always consistent. Beacon Partners relies on Proshred's expertise and professionalism for all of our secure document destruction. - Anne Reap- Beacon Partners read less
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Kim Stump10/28/2018Proshred Charlotte is by far the best document shredding business in the Charlotte region. Their customer service is excellent and always consistent. Beacon Partners relies... read moreProshred Charlotte is by far the best document shredding business in the Charlotte region. Their customer service is excellent and always consistent. Beacon Partners relies on Proshred's expertise and professionalism for all of our secure document destruction.- Anne Reap- Beacon Partners read less
Anne Reap10/28/2016Our company has been using ProShred for several years. We have been very pleased. They have great customer service and the guys who come for... read moreOur company has been using ProShred for several years. We have been very pleased. They have great customer service and the guys who come for the pickups are so nice and friendly. We are located in Harrisburg and they still come out to our location. After doing price comparisons, they are very inexpensive with no hidden fees that we experienced with other shredding companies in the area. Great company, highly recommended! read less
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Tracy4/27/2017Anthony was so nice and personable!
Miranda LaVergne10/30/2018I needed to clear out some old filing and paperwork that would be too much work for a personal shredder, so I called Proshed and... read moreI needed to clear out some old filing and paperwork that would be too much work for a personal shredder, so I called Proshed and the salesperson (Greg) was great and set me up right away. Great service and guidance and I will use them again. read less
R Mitchell10/01/2018We have used Proshred services for more than 10 years. Recently we had a need to purge about 10 years of documents from our offsite... read moreWe have used Proshred services for more than 10 years. Recently we had a need to purge about 10 years of documents from our offsite storage location. They made the process easy via emails not wasting my time on the phone to get it set up. Made suggestions that would save us time and money. Discounted the extra service without making us ask or check other options to get all the archives shredded. The driver was simply AWESOME. He called to ask if he could arrive early and then assisted us with the process of emptying boxes into their containers to load them into the shred truck. He shredded 18 containers of paper onsite in a very reasonable amount of time without a single complaint or losing his smile. He was professional and polite as everyone I have dealt with from the Company. We can't thank him enough for his help as we worked him very hard that day! read less
Teresa Isenhour10/30/2018We have been using ProShred for many years and they are absolutely wonderful! The office staff as well as the guys who come out to... read moreWe have been using ProShred for many years and they are absolutely wonderful! The office staff as well as the guys who come out to our location to shred are all very professional and kind. I would highly recommend this company for your shredding needs! read less
Anna Cook10/28/2016Great service and professional in answering questions and trying to be helpful over the phone!
Positive Girl10/28/2018Proshred did a great job for me. I asked for service at my home and they sent a truck. Service was very quick. The filled... read moreProshred did a great job for me. I asked for service at my home and they sent a truck. Service was very quick. The filled up a container with my papers, rolled it to truck and I was able to watch a camera feed while the machine shred all my papers. Very cool. Darrien was the technician and he was very nice and knew what he was doing. It was nice to work with a Pro like Darrien. read less
Steve Sherron12/09/2020
