Learning that your computer or network has been breached is a scary and helpless feeling. As soon as you hear of a cyberattack, it is important to take steps to ensure that damage is minimal and you don't get attacked again. Here are some things you should do immediately if you are the victim of a data breach.

1. Arm Your Network

It is particularly important to arm your corporate network if company data has been hacked. Procure a tool that can provide ransomware containment so you can stop any further attacks before they begin. This type of solution can also be used to ensure that even if you are breached, a hacker will still have trouble accessing all of your most sensitive data. Arm your network ASAP to prevent irreparable damage to your company and its reputation.

2. Change Your Passwords

Oftentimes, companies will send you a letter to tell you that your data has been compromised. One of the most important things you should do is visit the company's website immediately and change your login credentials. If you happen to use the same password elsewhere on the Internet (and who doesn't reuse passwords), change it everywhere. This may be a tedious task depending on how often you reuse your password, but it will also be an important lesson in online security and will teach you to vary your login credentials between sites.

3. Monitor Your Accounts

When you are involved in a data breach, many companies will provide you with some free credit monitoring for a set amount of time. If this is not offered, sign up for credit monitoring on your own. Many of these services will perform "soft" pulls on your credit weekly to ensure that everything looks normal. These types of pulls will not affect your credit or harm your score, so there is no reason not to sign up. Remember that once a hacker has your information, they can use it however and whenever they choose. Just because you are in the clear currently does not mean that you won't be affected down the road. Monitor your credit to ensure you aren't being taken advantage of.

4. Clean Your Computer

Whether or not you think you were the direct cause of a breach, it is important to clean your computer as soon as you can. If you don't have malware or virus protection on your computer, which you absolutely should if you are accessing a corporate network, invest in a virus scanning product immediately. Even if you were not the one who clicked on an infected link or who visited a site with a virus on it, you never know what may have sneaked through the network and landed on your computer. Do your due diligence and ensure that your technology is clean and unaffected.

5. Inform Others of the Hack

Inform others as soon as you learn that you have been hacked. Hackers often gain access to other accounts by masquerading as affiliated accounts since people tend not to be suspicious of e-mails being sent by those they know. Let them know not to open any future emails from you without verifying that you sent them first. This is also important to do on social media since it is simple for hackers to reproduce your profile and attempt to swindle your friends. If people know about these tricks, they can easily avoid getting hacked.

Whether at work or on your home network, getting hacked is scary. Take these simple steps as soon as a breach happens and you'll hopefully keep your friends and your online accounts as safe as possible.