How does cybercrime impact businesses?

Cybercrime cost the global economy about $445 billion every year, with the damage to business from theft of intellectual property exceeding the $160 billion loss to individuals.

Impact of cyber-attack on your business

A successful cyber-attack can cause major damage to your business. It can affect your bottom line, as well as your business' standing and consumer trust. The impact of a security breach can be broadly divided into three categories: financial, reputational, and legal.

Economic cost of cyber attack

Cyber-attacks often result in substantial financial loss arising from:

• theft of corporate information
• theft of financial information (e.g., bank details or payment card details)
• theft of money
• disruption to trading (e.g., inability to carry out transactions online)
• loss of business or contract

Businesses that suffered a cyber breach will also generally incur costs associated with repairing affected systems, networks, and devices.

Reputational damage

Trust is an essential element of customer relationship. Cyber-attacks can damage your business' reputation and erode the trust your customers have for you. This, in turn, could potentially lead to:

• loss of customers
• loss of sales
• reduction in profits

The effect of reputational damage can even impact on your suppliers, or affect relationships you may have with partners, investors and other third parties vested in your business.

Legal consequences of cyber breach

Data protection and privacy laws require you manage the security of all personal data you hold - whether on your staff or your customers. If this data is accidentally or deliberately compromised, and you have failed to deploy appropriate security measures, you may face fines and regulatory sanctions.

How to minimize the impact of cyber-attacks on businesses

Security breaches can devastate even the most resilient of businesses. It is extremely important to manage the risks accordingly. After an attack happens, an effective cyber security incident response plan can help you:

• reduce the impact of the attack
• report the incident to the relevant authority
• clean up the affected systems
• get your business up and running in the shortest time possible

It can help to invest in user training, education, and awareness in your organization on an ongoing basis.

To learn more or want to request a security audit, contact us below: