Let me ask you something—how much of a risk do you consider a cyberthreat to be to your business? We have some bad news for you… cybersecurity is a serious issue for businesses of all sizes, both in terms of the actual attacks and the downtime that many of these attacks can bring about.
Let’s get into a little more detail about how cybersecurity is a critically important factor for businesses.
Did You Know that October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month?
Since 2004, the United States has declared that October is Cybersecurity Awareness month. It’s probably not something that a lot of people think about. After all, October is also the month of fall foliage and pumpkin spice-flavored everything. And, like anything that gets a dedicated month to spread awareness of itself, cybersecurity awareness is something that needs to exist all year long.
It is important that cybersecurity is something you and your team prioritize, and we truly cannot emphasize this enough.
Why?
Did you know that the average cost of the data breach has reached $4.35 million this year? This comes from data from the Ponemon Institute and IBM that they compiled into the 2022 IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report, and also breaks up these costs into different segments.
The most expensive aspect of a data breach was identified as the detection and escalation process, closely followed by the cost of lost business. Post-breach response costs trail a ways behind, with the notification costs contributing relatively little to the overall expense.
Of course, there’s also downtime to consider in these costs.
Downtime Hits Companies Right in the Wallet
Downtime is not cheap… and has only gotten more costly over the past few years. According to the 2022 Outage Analysis Report from the Uptime Institute, outages costing more than $100,000 made up 39% of incidents in 2019, but now 60% cost that much.
You also need to consider that direct revenue loss is only one avenue that downtime influences. There’s also the lost productivity, potential data loss, and any loss of reputation you also need to take into consideration.
Cybersecurity Related Incidents Can Have a Long Term Effect on Your Reputation
If you suffer from a data breach, it can expose your customers’ information. That’s always going to make you look bad, but depending on what gets breached, it could seriously inconvenience or even harm your customers. You might not feel it right away, but it could cause customers and prospects to make future buying decisions based on the fact that you allowed their emails or credit card information to get stolen.
Not only that, but you are accountable for the information you hold for them.
Won’t Cyber Insurance Help Protect Me Financially?
Maybe…but this isn’t something you want to rely on.
There are a variety of reasons that your insurance provider could justify denying your claim. Policy exclusions, third-party fault, poor prevention practices, even just failing to document your preventative measures can all lead to a claim being denied.
Cybersecurity NEEDS to be Taken Seriously, and Treated Like a Fire
We cannot stress enough how important it is to prioritize cybersecurity. Reach out to us today at (410) 531-6727 to take the first step toward improving your cybersecurity preparedness.
