What to do if you’re hacked: Key first steps for SMEs

No one ever thinks it’ll happen to them - until it does. A suspicious invoice, an email account that starts sending messages you didn’t write, or a sudden lockout from systems. Panic sets in fast, and with it the risk of making things worse.

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If you ever find yourself in that situation, here’s what to do, calmly and quickly:

1. Contain it. Disconnect affected devices from the network. Lock or reset compromised accounts. Stop the spread first.
2. Communicate it. Tell whoever needs to know: your IT support, any affected customers or suppliers, and (if data’s been exposed) the ICO. Transparency matters.
3. Investigate it. Work out what happened, how, and what’s been affected. Avoid deleting or overwriting evidence as it’ll be vital for any forensic or recovery work.
4. Learn from it. Once things are under control, review what failed - a weak password, a missed update, a lack of MFA, poor staff awareness, whatever it is, use it as a lesson.

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The truth is, even with solid defences, incidents can still happen. The difference between chaos and control lies in how prepared you are to respond.

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That’s why CCL Protect subscribers can take comfort in having ready access to an incident response capability - expert responders who know exactly what to do, when to do it, and how to limit damage.

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Beyond the immediate response, there’s value in understanding the root cause and building resilience for the future, potentially tweaking the elements in Protect or layering in additional security services. It’s all geared to helping businesses strengthen their systems, policies, and people so they can move forward with confidence, not fear.

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Getting hacked is stressful. But having a calm, experienced team on your side turns it from a crisis into a fixable problem – and the perfect opportunity to improve.