Define clear procedures for identifying potential security incidents and how employees should report them.

Outline the responsibilities of team members, including IT, management, legal, and communications staff.

Detail how you will communicate during an incident—internally with staff and externally with customers, partners, and the public—and include contact info for cyber insurance, legal counsel, and law enforcement.

Establish steps for isolating affected systems or networks to prevent further damage and protect unaffected areas.

Specify how to preserve logs and other evidence, identify the root cause, and determine the extent of the breach.

Explain how to restore operations, including rebuilding systems from clean backups and verifying systems are secure before going back online.

Include a process for reviewing what happened, documenting lessons learned, and updating policies and training accordingly.

Keep the plan concise (1–2 pages). You can use free templates from CISA or NIST as a starting point, or hire a consultant to help, which runs a few thousand dollars.

Focus spending on core defenses first: deploy multi‑factor authentication (MFA) and a password manager (often free or under $500); invest in off‑site backups and disaster recovery ($1K–$5K); provide regular employee training ($500–$2K); obtain a cyber‑insurance policy ($1K–$3K); and ensure each device has reputable endpoint protection ($500–$2K).

Avoid costly “advanced” tools until you’ve mastered the basics—many security incidents are prevented by good passwords, MFA, patching, and user awareness. You can also use a managed security service provider to manage security for you until you grow enough to hire your own security team.

Take advantage of free or low‑cost options (e.g., Bitwarden, built‑in cloud security), and remember the return on investment: every dollar spent on prevention can save six or more dollars in breach recovery.

Consider total costs: beyond ransom demands (which can range up to $500K), factor in recovery and restoration expenses, downtime, lost productivity, regulatory penalties, legal fees, and credit monitoring.

Average recovery costs for small businesses fall between roughly $25K and $115K+, depending on industry and preparedness.

Paying a ransom funds criminal activity and doesn’t guarantee data recovery; most experts advise against it.

The cost of prevention is typically much lower—around one‑tenth the price of dealing with a successful breach.

Cyber insurance is increasingly vital for small businesses because it covers key breach‑related expenses: notifying affected customers, providing credit monitoring, paying for forensic investigations, covering legal and regulatory defense, recouping lost revenue from business interruption, and reimbursing ransomware recovery costs (though not the ransom itself).

Premiums for small businesses typically range from about $1K–$3K per year.

Basic security controls are usually required to qualify: insurers expect MFA, protected backups, employee awareness training, and up‑to‑date endpoint protection.

Coverage terms and exclusions vary widely, so shop around, compare policies carefully, and choose a plan that fits your risk profile and industry.

Identify how quickly you need to restore operations and how much data loss you can tolerate.

Detail backup and restore procedures (see my blog article for details).

Plan for alternative work arrangements so employees can continue serving customers if your main site goes down.

Specify how you’ll notify staff, customers, and partners during a disruption, and assign a point person to coordinate updates.

Test your plan at least quarterly to ensure backups actually restore and staff know their roles.

For small businesses, a simple plan is often enough: list your critical systems, backup schedules, and recovery steps in 1–2 pages

Disaster recovery plans are essential even for small operations—a day of downtime can cost thousands—yet developing a basic plan can be inexpensive (often under $2K) and offers peace of mind.