Why Cybersecurity is Now a Business Essential

Cybersecurity is the process of protecting and recovering computer systems, networks or devices from any kind of cyber-attack. Today, cyberattacks are increasing at an exponential rate posing danger to your sensitive data because attackers are using social engineering combined with artificial intelligence to evade data security controls.

Our modern world is dependent on technology and this dependence is growing considerably after the introduction of new technology that has access to our connected devices such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. To keep customer’s data protected while embracing new technology, cloud security solutions should be implemented with strong password policies like multiple authentications to eradicate illegal access.

The Importance of Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity is the top most priority for an organization to stay secure from cyber threats. Data that could result in identity and information theft are now publicly posted on social media. Sensitive data such as credit cards and bank details are stored in cloud services like Google Drive or Dropbox. Be it an individual, small business or large enterprise, each of them relies on computer systems for their daily activities.

Because of this, we have encountered potential security vulnerabilities that didn’t exist a decade back. Governments around the world are conducting cybersecurity awareness sessions to bring more attention to cybercrimes. Information theft is the most expensive and fastest growing component of cybercrime.

Social engineering is the easiest form of cyberattack with ransomware, phishing, and spyware as the easiest form of entry point. Third or fourth-party vendors who possess your data and have poor cybersecurity practices may lead to other forms of attacks thereby making vendor and third-party risk management important factors for an organization to consider.

The distributed nature of the internet gives cybercriminals the ability to attack targets outside their jurisdiction. Along with this increased profit and ease of business on the Dark Web is an important factor for driving the growth of cybercrime.

The Impact of Cybercrime

There are many factors responsible for cybercrimes and each of these are associated with poor handling of cybersecurity practices. Cybercrimes are capable of hindering the perfect ongoing business of an organization and can have severe impact in the following ways:

1. Economic Cost- Theft related to intellectual property, corporate information, disruptions in trading can lead to huge loss when it comes to repairing damaged systems.

2. Brand Reputation- Cybercrime hinders consumer trust resulting in loss of current and future customers to competitors along with poor media coverage. The reputational damage of even a small data breach is large enough for customers to switch towards other organizations for products and services.

3. Organizational Cost- Data breach laws can make organizations suffer from regulatory fines or sanctions because of cybercrimes. A business should focus on awareness programs on cybersecurity to ensure its employees are able to understand cybersecurity threats and the ways to mitigate them.

Examples of Damages to Companies Affected by Cyber Attacks

Since the number of cyber-attacks and data breaches have been considerably increasing in recent years, it was easy to produce a list of well-established companies affected by such data breaches.

1. eBay – eBay was the victim of a breach of passwords, which highly affected the brand image because 145 million users were asked to reset their passwords. Attackers used a set of employee credentials to access the entire mass of user data.

The stolen information included passwords and other personal information, including user’s names, e-mail addresses, residential addresses, phone numbers, and dates of birth. The breach was brought out to users in May 2014, after a month-long investigation by eBay.

2. Yahoo – In August 2013, a group of hackers had compromised 1 billion accounts. Not only this, security questions and answers were also compromised, leading to an increased risk of identity theft. Yahoo forced its affected users to change passwords and re-enter security questions and answers to make them encrypted for future use. By October 2017, Yahoo changed the estimate of 1 billion user accounts to 3 billion.

However, an investigation revealed that the user's password in clear text, payment card data, and bank information were not stolen. Nevertheless, Yahoo’s breach remains one of the largest data breaches of this type in history.

3. JBS Ransomware Attack- In May 2021, Russia based cybercriminals used ransomware to gain access to JBS SA’s network that resulted in money extortion. The cyber-attack powered down the plant and halted the processing at one of Canada’s largest meatpacking plants. Another most significant impact was on the grocery stores and restaurants that would have charged more or removed meat products from their menus.

The attackers gained access by compromising employee or user’s accounts. JBS had to pay out $11 million ransom despite following security protocols, and having systems and encrypting backup servers.

4. Facebook Data Breach- In April 2021, the personal data of more than half a billion Facebook users was leaked online for free in a hacker forum. Malicious actors dragged the data and inserted a defunct feature on Facebook that allowed users to find each other by phone number.

Facebook users considered the fact that their information was publicly available and they could not fix this issue by themselves. In addition, the company was not sure which users should inform about the incident and later made it clear that they had no plans to notify users.

These are just some examples of high-profile data breaches; one should not forget there are more such hidden cases that never made it to the front page.

Is Your Organization at Risk of a Data Breach?

In Time Tec can protect your business from data breaches and help you strengthen the network security by continuously monitoring the security posture of your respective vendors. We also offer a third-party data leak protection that is given charge to a team of cybersecurity professionals to facilitate rapid security scaling. Get informed about our cybersecurity services and how we can protect your company at www.intimetec.com/contact-us