Cyber Attack
With a 28% increase in global cyber attacks in the third quarter of 2022 as compared to the same time in 2021, it is unerring to say that cyber security is becoming more prevalent. Well, with the occurrences of cyberattacks not slowing down, it has become imperative for businesses to employ certain measures to prevent or make it difficult for them to become a victim of such attacks. Well, if you are still doubting whether your business should get a cybersecurity system, then; this post is for you. Because in this post, we will look at the various consequences a cyber attack can have on your business.
So, without boring you out, let’s get into it:
1. It is Expensive
The financial repercussions of one cyber attack can be hefty and can lead to bankruptcy for small to medium-sized businesses if multiple attacks ensue.
With the abundance of black hat hackers and the easy accessibility to tools on the dark web, it is becoming cheaper for cybercriminals to launch attacks on companies. And anyone with a couple of gorillas to spare can launch a cyberattack against your company. Sadly, one attack–such as a data breach attack– can end up costing companies anywhere from AU $3.35 million, which can be a heavy price to pay.
Besides financially hitting the companies’ pockets, the recovery time from cyber attacks isn’t as quick as one might think. A study suggests that a data breach attack might take your company 279 days to detect and recover. Therefore, cyberattacks will not only affect your pockets; but your company’s time as well– and as the famous saying goes: “Time is money.”
2. Degraded Trust and Integrity
Trust is one of the few metrics that drives a customer’s loyalty toward a brand/company. Well, one way a company can quickly degrade customers’ trust is to be a victim of a cyber attack. In an event where the company cannot repair the damage caused by the attack, it leaves investors, stakeholders, and customers scratching their heads as to whether their loyalty and investments are worth conferring with the company.
Similarly, if a company becomes a victim of numerous cyber attacks (more than 1), the loyalty of its customers will be in shambles.
Both of the abovementioned scenarios can lead to a snowball effect of customer churn, loss of revenue, and making your business look unattractive.
A simple data breach can compromise your company’s integrity and ruin customers’ trust in your company since they tend to feel like their personal details have been exposed, which can make them susceptible to other attacks in the future. In fact, according to Ignite Visibility, 65% of customers tend to lose trust in a company when they hear that there is a data breach.
3. Lawsuit
Certain customers who have entrusted their data and personal information in the hands of your company wouldn’t let matters slide in the case of a cyberattack. They will take the extra step to ensure that your company is brought forth before a court of law to pay for any damages the attack might have caused. Numerous cyber attacks have cost companies millions of dollars in lawsuits alone.
Various acts such as the Australian Privacy Act of 1998 and the GDPR Act 2018 strictly make it clear that companies are responsible for the protection of the data they collect from individuals, and in case any company defaults to the laws in these acts, victims have every right to sue the attacked company.
Furthermore, this can lead to a breach of contract between your company and clients, especially if you are in the financial or health sector, and this can be the basis of more serious lawsuits.
4. Theft
Well, hackers invade a system for a purpose, and most often hackers are invading your company’s database to get access to your company’s information, employee information, and customer data to sell them on the dark web. These personal and business details are sold to other cybercriminals to enable them to carry out various criminal and fraudulent activities such as online impersonation or identity theft where attackers can open bank accounts in the user’s name; commit financial fraud in the person’s name; or even, blackmail the individual. And again, this can be one of the reasons why the trust and integrity of your company become vulnerable in cases of cyber attacks.
Bottom Line:
Every day, cybercriminals and hackers are devising new methods to invade the security systems of most small to medium-sized companies, as well as, large businesses; however, you will be surprised to know that 88% of most cyber attacks on companies are due to mistakes by employees.
Well, we are here to which is why we have carefully created cyber security training for all businesses to ensure that your employees and your security systems are up to date on the latest cybersecurity trends to help you create a formidable system that will be difficult for hackers to penetrate.
