With the increasing dependency on technology, cybercrime is one of the biggest threats for companies today. Almost on a daily basis, the severity and commonality of security breaches continue to rise.
In fact, a recent report showed that cybercrime damages are estimated to reach $6 trillion by 2021. That being said, there’s no doubt that technological advancements like cloud storage, online banking, etc., have helped businesses in multiple ways.
But, while benefitting from these advancements, companies need to also take measures to protect themselves from cyber-attacks. For example, you might have retired decrepit systems and invest in technology to protect sensitive business data. However, even the most advanced technology cannot help your business be secure unless you’re cyber-aware and prepared to tackle the cyber-attacks.
If you’re running a company that makes use of the latest technological advancements, it’s time to analyze if you’re prepared to tackle a potential cyber-attack. Ask yourself these questions:
● Do you have appropriate measures in place to detect a cyber-attack?
● Would you recognize a Business Email Compromise (BEC) scam such as CEO fraud?
● What about your employees? Are they certified in IT governance framework and enterprise security risk management?
Before delving into the benefits of investing in cybersecurity measures for your company, let’ first understand what cybersecurity is.
What is Cybersecurity?
The technical definition of cybersecurity is the practice of protecting systems, networks, and programs from different types of digital attacks. These attacks are usually focused on accessing, changing, or even destroying sensitive information. Some examples of this also include extorting money from users or interrupting normal business processes.
In today’s times, it has become very challenging to apply effective cybersecurity practices, primarily because there are more gadgets than people and cyber attackers are getting more advanced.
Hence, to combat these attacks, a company needs multiple layers of protection that cover the computers, networks, programs, and any data that you need to keep safe. To work effectively in an organization, the technology, people, and processes must all work together with one another to create a defense from cyber-attacks.
5 Reasons Why Investing in Cybersecurity is Important for Businesses
Mentioned below are some of the benefits that companies can leverage by adopting effective cybersecurity measures.
1. Increase The Safety To Your BCP
By preparing for a cyber-attack before it actually occurs, you will be able to add another element of safety to your BCP. For example, it’s better to lead a healthy and active lifestyle in order to prevent heart attacks, instead of relying on the defibrillator. Basically, it’s better to take precautions than cure.
So, ask yourself how is your organization’s secure information being governed?
There are many tools available in the market, however, they only focus on one risk. Hence, it’s more effective to use an all-hazards approach by including cybersecurity measures and techniques in your plans within your BCP.
This will enable you to carry out a plan that is based on critical resources, functions, or operations that could be affected by a host of various potential disruptions.
2. Customer Satisfaction And Loyalty
The protection of important and sensitive data and information from your organization is imperative not just for your company, but your clients as well. Hence, you must train your employees on how to protect your organization’s data internally.
A good way to do this is to develop and communicate a risk management plan to educate employees on various risks. This could include elaborate procedures for securing passwords, catching phishing, and identifying any suspicious activity.
Many of these cyber-attacks have been conducted by vendors, and hence a breach will not be hidden from your clients. This results in clients often conducting audits, especially due to the rise of cyber-attacks. At this point, your organization will have to present your BCP and cybersecurity to clients and vendors.
3. Cybercrime Is On An All-Time High
Almost every business has or is planning to shit from filing cabinets to cloud-based alternatives. While this change is beneficial, it also increases the chances of cyber-attacks. Moreover, with the increasing sophistication of cybercriminals, the growth of cybercrime is inevitable.
Hence, the questions aren’t if you’re attacked, it’s more when you’re attacked. Hence, you must take precautions before the cyber-attack.
4. Cybercrime Will Damage Your Reputation
It’s no secret that no client or vendor would want to collaborate with a company that has just faced a cyber-attack. Being susceptible to these attacks indicates that your company is not capable of preserving sensitive data, thereby highly damaging your reputation.
This reputational damage is incredibly hard to recover from as clients and partners won’t trust you and will choose not to work with you.
On the contrary, by having a cybersecurity plan in place, your organization will be able to present an actionable, tested plan to regulatory bodies or clients who are performing client audits.
Hence, while recovering from an attack is challenging, it’s easier to follow certain precautions and safeguard your company and its reputation, Moreover, this will make your company less of a target, mitigate risks of an attack or will at least lessen the impact.
5. Boost Employee Confidence And Reduce Stress
Even if you don’t provide formal training to your employees regarding cybersecurity, they are aware of the increasing terror of cybercrime. By training your team and adopting certain measures to execute these tasks, you will be able to mitigate the anxiety caused by cybersecurity uncertainty.
Moreover, you will be able to eliminate risky behavior and instill security best practices company-wide by training the employees about cybersecurity.
Also, by promoting cybersecurity as a priority for your company, employees will gain knowledge about advanced and latest technologies, tools, and resources needed for effective training. Furthermore, it encourages employees to share responsibility among staff for safe technology usage.
COMMENTS