Why You Should Take Cybersecurity Seriously

Cybercrime and cybersecurity are nothing new.

09:53 01 April 2020

This is something that has sparked concern ever since businesses and individuals started using the internet. However, there is no denying that over the years, cybersecurity has become a major concern with incidences of cybercrime becoming not only more frequent but also increasingly significant and dangerous.

This has led many businesses to not only invest in password managers but also seek the services of security companies to keep their sensitive data and information safe from cybercriminals. That said, there is still a larger portion of businesses that have not given the topic the importance and funding that it deserves.

Let’s take a look at why you should take cybersecurity seriously.

It’s more prevalent than you might think

Everybody welcomes technology. It makes our lives easier and improves the quality of life. However, technology and the use of the internet has opened up possibilities for would-be attackers.

Think about it this way, it is possible for hackers to access power grids and even dams. After all, it has happened plenty of times before. There are individuals who benefit from accessing private business information.

The question then becomes, have you taken precautions to safeguard sensitive data and company information?

Risk of loss of business and revenue

According to one study, up to 60% of small and medium-sized businesses have experienced one form of a data breach or another. Moreover, hackers are skilled enough to gain access to data from large companies such as yahoo and JP Morgan.

But what does this mean to businesses?

Well, if hackers access private customer data, they can use this to cause harm to the financial position of customers. What’s more, once you are customers learn that your business or company isn’t able to provide protection to their personal information, they will likely move to another company. This will cause a loss of business and revenue.

But that is not the only thing that is surprising when you consider the measures businesses have already taken to safeguard crucial data. A whopping 90% of companies admit to not having adequate measures in place for protecting company data.

This alone should be motivation enough to do what you can and invest in cybersecurity.

Many reasons behind cybercrime—all of them are bad for the company

There are several reasons that motivate hackers to gain access to a company’s sensitive data.

1. The hacker wants access to personal customer information
   
   
2. The hacker wants to sabotage the company
   
   
3. The hacker is a modern-day vigilante and is trying to expose the wrongdoings of the company
   
   

Whatever the reason, it is safe to say that they all have negative consequences for the company. If the attacker accesses personal customer information, he may even use this to exploit customers and cause financial harm.

Secondly, if the cybercriminal is aiming to sabotage the company and disrupt business, he or she will cause a major public relations issue, causing its customers to lose faith with the company and ruining the business’ reputation.

Note that there are plenty of incidences of cybercrime and security breaches that happen every year. However, these cases go unreported because the attacker has not been identified yet or the company is looking to settle with the attacker before it becomes a major public relations nightmare.

Why business fail to implement proper cybersecurity

We’ve seen the risks of cybercrime and how these impact business and revenue. However, it is important to understand why many businesses fail to implement cybersecurity measures so you don’t follow the same path.

Firstly, many managers want to increase profits and one way of doing this is to reduce the costs of business. Businesses that have never experienced cybercrime will be reluctant to put in place cybersecurity measures as they see no need for it.

Secondly, for a business that has had incidences before, the problem may have been solved quickly. This may cause managers to think that the next time there is a case, the problem will also be easily solved. However, next time, it could end up costing the business millions of dollars.

It is thus crucial to not view cybersecurity as a problem that needs solving but an issue that needs preventing through various cybersecurity protocols.

Final thoughts

Cybercrime can cause major public relations problems for the business. It can also cause customers to lose faith and switch to a competitor. This will have drastic consequences on the revenue. It is therefore important for businesses to take cybersecurity seriously and take measures to implement robust cybersecurity measures.