Being Proactive With Cyber Security

Nowadays, when we ready so frequently about occurrences of data breaches, loss, digital scams, and other cyber-attacks, it is evident that cyber security risks are increasing day by day.

Cyber security threats are now omnipresent; they are present across the technology world from cloud services to global connectivity. In addition, the adoption of emerging technologies like machine learning and artificial intelligence, the risks to an organisation have multiplied.

In recent times, an infamous example of cyber-attack was the WannaCry ransomware attack. The attack occurred in May 2017 with global proportions.

A ransomware cryptoworm named WannaCry targeted and propagated through those computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system where patches to a specific OS exploit had not been applied.

It encrypted the data of around 300,000+ computers and demanded the ransom payment in the Bitcoin cryptocurrency.

The aspects leading to such an attack on a global level were unpatched window systems, stolen government hacking tools, and shadowy operatives. But yes, the lack of awareness about such attacks can also be considered as a crucial cause.

It has been estimated that 95% of cyber-attacks happen due to human errors. Consistent human errors leave room for vulnerabilities that weaken the system or the network.

Hackers exploit these vulnerabilities to manipulate the system and cause damage. This has led to increased cyber security threats and nearly 68% of business leaders agree to it.

Gone are the days when simple antivirus software was the sole measure to seek protection against cyber-attacks. Cyber-attacks have evolved and reached a completely new level that can destroy a company’s reputation.

In the sections below, let us look at how damaging a cyber-attack could be for a business and why they need to be proactive about and invest in cyber security.

How Destructive Could a Cyber-attack be?

Cyber-attacks are technical weaponry in cyber space intended to harm us. Some common cyber-attacks include malware, phishing, spear phishing, Trojans, ransomware, and man-in-the-middle attacks.

To gauge how harmful a cyber-attack is, we need to understand the intent of the attacker and its potential impact. An attacker’s intent is usually financial gain, business disruption or espionage. In terms of ramifications of these attacks, they can disrupt global digital functions significantly.

This is not an exaggeration of the impacts cyber-attacks leave in their wake. Besides the threat to businesses, cyber-attacks have the potential to cause electrical blackouts, disrupt phone and computer networks, disrupt essential facilities and services like medical help provision, breach a country’s security secrets and other confidential data, make digital content and services unavailable, defame organisations and individuals, and still more.

Read Also: Cyber Security Threats and Measures for eCommers Companies

What Impact do Cyber-attacks Have on Business?

A cyber-attack can cause great damage to businesses no matter if it is a small company or a fortune 500. It can wipe, corrupt, or lock the electronic data stored on systems, damage the system architecture, cause income loss by preventing business, result in high overspends for extortion or for recovering from damages, and much more.

The biggest risk that a cyber-attack poses to a business is damage to its reputation to such an extent that customers stop doing business.

If an organisation adopts a careless attitude towards the weaknesses and vulnerabilities in its systems, it will most likely than not, end up with damage to reputation. There can also be legal consequences if customer and financial data are accidentally or deliberately compromised.

So, what is the best and most effective way to keep cyber-attacks at bay?

Short answer: cyber security. Let’s talk about it some more..

What is Cyber Security in Simple Words?

Cyber security is a set of practices, including technology and tools, designed to protect networks, systems, devices, programs, data, and software against cyber-attacks.

How does cyber security work?

Cyber security provides multiple layers of protection to devices, software, apps, and network, to defend against potential cyber-attacks. The process starts by identifying the vulnerabilities that hackers and cyber criminals can target.

Cyber security helps to detect, investigate, and resolve potential vulnerabilities in the entire system. This way, it helps prevent possible attacks or exploitation by a hacker or any malicious software.

Reason, Why Businesses Should Invest in Cyber Security?

Who needs cyber security the most?

This question is often the topic of conversations and debates. The answer is: Everybody.

The focus of this article is cyber security for businesses so let’s continue down that path. Over 80% of the reported cyber security threats are phishing attacks and 88% of businesses worldwide have experienced it.

Businesses are constantly on the radar of hackers and cyber criminals and will continue to be. It is extremely crucial, then, for them to always be prepared and keep themselves protected from potential threats that could strike at any time.

There are several aspects of how cyber security can help businesses, but let’s discuss a few that call out why it is beneficial and important that businesses do invest in security measures.

1. Increase in Productivity

The first thing that cyber security does to help business is that it increases productivity. When systems are infected by viruses, they slow down the working or put a complete stop.

This wastes a lot of crucial time for employers as well as employees, bringing business operations to a halt. Viruses or other attacks can also freeze and crash computers leading to business disruption until backup or spare systems are arranged.

2. Building Trust in Customers' Eyes

As we discussed in the above sections about how damaging cyber-attacks could be for a business, the biggest threat is loss of reputation amongst customers.

If a business is a target of frequent attacks and/or crucial information of customers are stolen, it gives way to the perception that the business does not value safeguarding of systems and information, and hence, cannot be trusted by customers.

When the business starts working on tightening the security of systems and networks, develops a robust and effective cyber security strategy, and continually improves upon it, it develops the impression that they are well protected against cyber-attacks, and serious about protecting customers’ details and transactions. This gives customers the confidence and trust to continue business transactions.

3. Guarding Your Customers

It is common knowledge that customers’ records are the most valued commodity in today’s digital age that hackers usually target. Certain businesses hold important customer details like bank accounts, investments etc., or private data like addresses and contact information that would have been provided to the business in confidence.

In some organisations like hospitals and medical care providers, information like customers’ health records is extremely sensitive in nature. Needless to say, if data like these gets stolen, it could be damaging for the customer and therefore, for the business.

Protection against data theft and loss is an important component of implementing cyber security measures.

4. Ensuring Safe and Sound Working Environment

When it comes to cyber-attacks, a hard fact is that in some cases cyber criminals and hackers are more experienced than an organisation’s average employees.

Considering the best IT security systems and practices, can help a business’ IT team to effectively defend the business against attacks. Moreover, it reduces the risks associated with common cybercrimes.

All this ensures a safe and robust working environment for employees. Not implementing effective cyber security practices will hamper employees’ and therefore, the organisation’s productivity.

Also, the constant disruption in business activities will lead to unnecessary expenses of replacing the systems frequently. It is best to reinforce!

Now that you know why cyber security is beneficial for a business, you can take the next steps to partner with an industry expert.