The costs of a security breach extend well beyond the immediate liabilities and remediation expenses:
- 29 percent of businesses that are breached lose revenue
- 23 percent of businesses lose new opportunities
- 22 percent of businesses lose existing customers
Security breaches can affect all aspects of a targeted company, from its operations and finance to its brand reputation and customer loyalty.
Small businesses risk losing more than just money if they don’t protect themselves. A recent report published by the Better Business Bureau (BBB) states half of the small businesses couldn’t stay profitable more than 30 days if they lost critical data.
The BBB reports out of the 1,100 businesses they surveyed in North America, less than half provide cybersecurity education to their employees. That’s troubling considering how many cyber attacks occur due to an unsuspecting employee clicking on a hyperlink in a fake email. Ninety-one percent of hacks on businesses start with a spear phishing email scam, according to KnowBe4, a company specializing in security awareness training for employees.
Cybersecurity awareness training is the most cost-effective cybersecurity prevention tool. But, it’s just one piece of the puzzle. Cybersecurity is a highly dynamic realm. It requires daily immersion to remain current on the landscape. As critical as this expertise has become, most small and mid-size businesses cannot financially justify having these types of resources on-board full time.
How to protect your business and your customers from cyber risk
Here are the steps we typically recommend, but the easiest thing to do is start a conversation with us. We’ll be happy to walk you through the process.
1. Find out where your security gaps are.
A complete security strategy is a composite of people, processes, and technology orchestrated to protect your business and in many cases meet government-dictated policy standards. A professional security risk assessment will analyze all three critical areas and evaluate your company’s performance relative to intended company objectives and security best practices. With the information developed from the assessment, you will be able to design strategies to strengthen, reinforce, or modify your security posture in order to anticipate evolving threats and satisfy the present needs of your business.
2. Improve and harden your organization’s security program.
Penetration tests, compromise, and vulnerability assessments should be performed on an ongoing basis. No matter your size, all organizations should regularly check their applications, networks, and systems for vulnerabilities that can allow outsiders to have access to their critical data. They should also assess whether their environment is already compromised if they have not consistently monitored their security program, or are planning significant changes to their existing environment.
3. Strengthen your human firewall.
Your users are often the weakest link in your cyber defense program. You must have an integrated, ongoing security awareness training program to make them assets of rather than liabilities to your security posture.
4. Monitor your security infrastructure.
You should have round-the-clock vigilant oversight of your security infrastructure and your critic assets performed by security experts. The quicker you can identify a suspicious actor or event the better you can prevent or minimize any intended damage.
5. Make sure data is accessible no matter what.
If your defenses are overcome, you must be postured to prevent a disruption of your business operations. A strategic and functional disaster recovery plan formally integrated within your security program will ensure your business and reputation will remain resilient to a malicious cyber event.
Cybriant was created to aid organizations in making sound business decisions regarding their cyber defense strategies and investments, and to help implement and manage these strategies if needed. Whether its professional expertise to design and implement a formal cyber risk management program or services to aid the management your existing information security environment, Cybriant can help.