Poor cybersecurity can harm a business and cost the company millions to recover from or do permanent damage. It can allow hackers to not only access your information but lock you out. If you aren’t investing in cybersecurity, this is essentially what you’re doing — except the stakes may be even higher. Indeed, if you’re wondering why cybersecurity is crucial for businesses, you don’t need to look further than the statistics. Security breaches can likely cost a company over $4.24 million.
Poor Cybersecurity and the Main Risks
Consider the following four risks you leave your business vulnerable to if you don’t invest in cybersecurity.
Electronic Theft
Hackers are more intrepid than ever, and they’ve devised countless clever ways to gain unauthorized access to sensitive data. Depending on your company, this data may include your customers’ names, email addresses, or social security numbers. Thus, identity thieves can exploit it and use it for nefarious purposes. They can get into your system in various ways, including phishing. It entails using emails allegedly from a trusted organization and then hacking into the system through email. However, You can prevent this by implementing advanced security measures on all devices where sensitive information is stored.
Inaccessibility
Another common attack tactic fronted by cybercriminals is strategically preventing system administrators from accessing their own systems. You may find yourself locked out of essential information if you fall prey to an attack such as phishing. Phishing attacks occur when someone sends a fraudulent email that contains a predatory link. The link in question may ask for the recipient’s credentials, so the thief can surreptitiously access the information. To further complicate matters, the hacker can revoke the original user’s access. Additionally, they may try to gain access through social engineering. It involves manipulating employees into going against protocol and allowing access. Ultimately, it can ruin a business, and cause strife for the employee.
Corporate Espionage Causing Poor Cybersecurity
Corporate espionage may sound like it belongs in the movies rather than in real life, but it’s a viable threat — even to small businesses. You should be concerned with cybersecurity effectiveness in businesses if you have trade secrets or other sensitive internal data that you wouldn’t want competitors to access. For example, documents that include information about patents, personnel details, or sales reports may be privileged information. Things like ransomware can cost a company plenty of headaches to deal with. Likewise, it can cause unrepairable damage to the company and its employees. You must protect these files from prying eyes who may try to gain unauthorized access.
Legal Liability
Many businesses don’t realize they are vulnerable to significant liability when they neglect cybersecurity concerns. The aforementioned cost — $4.2 million — is primarily due to the expenses of litigation that may follow after a security breach. Indeed, if you have customer information compromised due to your company’s negligence, you could be on the hook for damages. Beef up your poor cybersecurity and invest in cyber insurance to prevent these issues from occurring. A cyber insurance policy will help mitigate the risks your company faces and cover potential damages that may result from a cybersecurity incident.
Cochrane & Company
For more than six decades, Cochrane & Company has been proudly at the forefront of the insurance industry. Our experience has enabled us to innovate in powerful ways, reimagining the E&S market, and providing technology solutions that make it easy to do business with us. Licensed in all 50 states, we proudly serve clients across the nation, providing personalized and powerful solutions to help you become an even better partner for your clients. Speak to one of our experienced professionals today by calling (855) 967-0069.
