What Happens When Your Company Suffers a Cyber Breach

Now what do we do?

The costly truth for construction firms, accounting professionals, and wealth advisors, and how to protect your business before it’s too late.

It often starts with something small: an employee unable to log in, a system that suddenly slows, or a client experiencing odd account activity. Before you know it, a message appears: Your files have been encrypted. Pay within 72 hours.

For businesses juggling construction projects, managing complex finances, or managing client wealth, a cyber breach disrupts everything. In the hours following an attack, work can grind to a halt: construction teams lose access to blueprints and schedules, accountants face the potential exposure of confidential, personally identifiable information (PII), and wealth advisors risk unauthorized transfers or leaks of sensitive financial data.

Inside organizations, teams go into all-hands-on-deck mode. IT professionals and cybersecurity experts work to locate the breach and contain it. Executives mobilize stakeholders, while legal and compliance personnel scramble to meet tight regulatory deadlines, especially under FINRA, the SEC, IRS regulations, or public-sector contractual mandates.

As customers begin to question what happened, trust begins to unravel. One negative headline can trigger clients to rethink partnerships, whether those are construction contracts, accounting relationships, or asset management agreements. When trust is on the line, damage to reputation can be swift and hard to recover from.

The cost of a breach isn’t just technical; it’s financial, operational and reputational. In the U.S., the average data breach now costs nearly $9.5 million, according to a recent study by IBM and that figure doesn’t just reflect IT remediation. It includes prolonged system downtime, mounting legal fees and the enormous effort involved in identifying, rebuilding, or recovering lost or corrupted data. There’s also the loss of opportunity, projects being delayed, deals abandoned and clients who walk away rather than risk continued exposure. Beyond the immediate disruption, the damage to a company’s brand and reputation can be far more lasting. Trust can take years to rebuild and may never be fully restored. For many organizations, especially in sectors where relationships and discretion are everything, that reputational fallout can cost more than the breach itself. And in regulated industries, failure to notify affected individuals or comply with security standards can add another layer of penalties, fines, and ongoing legal exposure. A single breach can trigger a cascade of expenses and consequences that reach far beyond the IT department.

After the incident has been contained, the real effort begins. Systems must be rebuilt or restored. Clients must be kept informed with transparency and care, often alongside credit monitoring when personal data has been exposed. Internally, it’s a time of reassessing policies, expanding staff awareness, and investing in stronger tools and incident response plans.

A cybersecurity expert recently underscored how critical preparation is:

“Successful recovery during attacks hinges on robust disaster recovery plans, technical skills, and the ability to detect anomalies amid normal operations.” — Guido Grillenmeier, Principal Technologist (EMEA), Semperis

Essentially, your business needs proactive readiness; your own red and blue team simulations, so when an incident occurs, you’re not reacting from scratch.

That’s why prevention matters. For construction, that could mean encrypting blueprints, managing device security, and vetting third-party access. Accounting firms thrive on multi-factor authentication, encrypted document portals, and role-based access to data, especially during tax season. Wealth management teams should regularly audit cybersecurity posture, enforce access controls around client data, and secure communications at every phase. Regardless of industry, firms should have an incident response plan to clearly map out what to do in the event of an incident.

Cybersecurity isn’t just an IT concern; it’s central to business continuity, customer trust, and brand reputation. And if you handle personal or financial information, your clients’ peace of mind depends on how prepared you are.

If a breach does happen, proceed carefully.

Your first call should be to your cyber insurance provider. Most policies have very specific procedures you must follow, and taking the wrong steps—like trying to fix the issue yourself—can jeopardize your coverage. Avoid restoring systems or deleting files until you’ve consulted with your insurer and legal counsel. Document everything, including when the breach was discovered, what systems are affected, and any actions taken so far. Notify your incident response team and trusted IT or cybersecurity partner immediately. The goal is to contain the threat, preserve evidence for forensic analysis, and ensure compliance with any regulatory or contractual obligations. Acting quickly and in alignment with expert guidance helps protect both your business and your clients.

The best time to act was yesterday. The next best time is today.

Cyber threats are evolving, but so can your defenses. Don’t wait for a breach to find out where your vulnerabilities are. Connect with a Visory expert to assess your current risks, explore tailored solutions for your industry, and start building the resilience your business deserves before you ever need it.

Contact us and let’s have a conversation that could save your company time, money, and peace of mind.