After a data breach, organizations need to understand the scope of the incident in order to quickly resolve it and ensure they are able to meet notification requirements. The urgency often leads to the misguided belief that conducting the investigation internally, with current team members who seemingly know the data best, is the most efficient approach. While the intent might be good, in-house investigations can result in downstream regulatory and legal consequences. Post-breach data mining is a specialized field that requires expertise to handle breach investigations correctly and efficiently.
Take Uber’s notorious handling of its 2016 breach where threat actors were paid $100,000 in bitcoin to sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) regarding the hack. Uber opted for self-investigation and ultimately faced severe consequences due to inadequate and much delayed reporting. Uber’s Chief Security Officer (CSO) was also convicted by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of attempting to cover up the breach.
Not all post-breach self-investigations are as nefarious as Uber’s. However, the fallout from conducting a well-intentioned yet insufficient internal investigation can still be drastic. Equifax learned this lesson the hard way after it experienced a cyberattack followed by a self-conducted post-breach investigation that did not end well. Following Equifax’s 2017 breach, they faced significant backlash after it was revealed that more comprehensive third-party involvement could have avoided delays and mishandling of the investigation. Equifax received heavy penalties and a lasting reputational hit, which underlines the potential pitfalls of inadequate self-investigations.
Data protection regulations impose significant penalties for inadequate data breach reporting. To avoid these penalties, working with experienced third-party data mining experts ensures both compliance and credibility. Since The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the EU and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in the U.S. are frameworks that emphasize transparency and objective post-incident reporting, the role of third-party expertise becomes critical in incident response and regulatory adherence.
Here are five reasons why you should choose a specialized, third-party data mining provider, instead of handling the data review internally.
1. Specialized Tools and Expertise for Data Processing
Third-party vendors have the technology, tools, and expertise to narrow the scope of the review efficiently and defensibly. Specialized data mining vendors can use forensics tools to target only documents accessed or exfiltrated by the threat actor rather than the entire data set the threat actor could have accessed. Professional eDiscovery tools allow for advanced deduplication to ensure that each document is only being reviewed once and enable enhanced searching functionality to perform effective programmatic data mining to isolate the documents most likely to contain reportable data.
2. Defensible Data Culling
Data mining vendors are experts with all things data, and work hand in glove with breach counsel to assess the applicable jurisdictions and regulations for each project. Using this information, data mining vendors cultivate bespoke search term lists for each matter and tailor advanced culling methodologies specific to the organization’s industry. Data mining vendors also understand which search terms yield higher relevancy rates and those that result in more false hits. Also, data mining vendors work with the organization to further reduce the data population using the proprietary in-house knowledge of the data to remove pockets of non-relevant documents. Thus, data mining vendors, leveraging an organization’s knowledge of the data, can defensibly cull the data set down, making the undertaking more cost effective.
3. Trained Review Teams to Scale with Quality Control Processes
Third-party vendors conduct data mining reviews every day and can train reviewers who are then ready to hit the ground running. The reviewers know what to look for and how to make their way most efficiently through the documents. Pods managed by senior reviewers ensure that each reviewer is receiving prompt feedback and that the team is aligned and following a consistent approach. Data mining vendors also utilize robust quality check processes to ensure that data is collected accurately and examine anomalies requiring further review. Importantly, third-party vendors can scale up quickly to meet tight regulatory deadlines on projects of any size.
4. Technologists with an Extensive Toolkit to Conquer Difficult Documents and Entity List Consolidation
Third-party data mining providers bring technical expertise and efficient processes to post-breach investigations, especially in areas like data extraction from complicated, lengthy files, unstructured sources, and deduplicating and consolidating the final entity list. This expertise is often lacking in-house and is costly to develop internally. Without specialized techniques to extract sensitive information from lengthy, complicated files, the review process can be extremely time-consuming, tedious, and expensive to undertake. Once the review is finished, it is necessary to conduct a technical process to consolidate and merge entities within the final notification list. This is essential to ensure a proper risk assessment for individuals, to determine whether jurisdictional notification thresholds have been reached, and to make certain that everyone is only notified once.
5. Reputation, Regulatory Compliance, and Legal Risk Management
A third-party investigation helps reassure clients, stakeholders, and the public that the breach is being handled with due diligence. An independent investigation signals transparency and accountability, which can be crucial for brand reputation in the wake of a cyber incident. Third-party data mining vendors can help companies comply with data privacy laws, such as GDPR, HIPAA, or the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), and manage the risk of non-compliance. Vendors often have dedicated teams familiar with global regulations and which sensitive data elements to extract for specific groups, which is essential for multi-national firms. Third-party investigations can limit liability by ensuring proper documentation, consistent processes, and credible findings. This is crucial in the event of litigation or regulatory scrutiny following a breach.
In conclusion, the importance of thorough and unbiased post-breach investigations cannot be overstated. By choosing a third-party data mining provider, organizations can ensure compliance, credibility, and a faster more effective data breach response. Don’t let the aftermath of a breach become a bigger problem than the breach itself. Make it part of your incident response plan to partner with a provider you can rely on if a breach occurs. Engage with experts who can provide a defensible approach and the necessary insights and support to navigate the complexities of post-breach investigations. Your organization’s reputation and future depend on it.
