Cyber Attacks become the most feared threat to businesses

If you are a business owner, you already know starting a company is no easy job. There are a million avenues where your attention is needed simultaneously. As the owner, you become the last line of defence; all escalated problems become your responsibility, with no superior above your head. Since business trade secrets and patents became common in the marketplace, there have always been external threats to companies, in the form of data leaks, business interruptions, IP (intellectual property) theft, patent fraud and countless others. Surpassing all of these dangers, cyber attacks become the most imminent threat that needs to be prevented at all costs.

The Statistics

Cyber attacks are considered the top risk to businesses globally, according to a survey of 2,718 executives across 100 countries, including CEOs, risk managers, brokers and insurance experts, with 39% listing cybersecurity as their biggest worry.

Seven years ago, cybersecurity ranked 15th on the business risk list, compiled by Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS), with just 6% of respondents reporting cyberthreats as their primary cause for worry.

Threat Sources for Businesses

Ransomware

Ransomware is malicious code that locks you out of your own system. The person behind the attack typically leaves a note on your machine asking money in return for the decryption key that will allow you to unlock your files and regain access to your system.

There are hidden costs to this that may not be obvious. Not only do you have to pay the criminal, you also have to face angry end-customers in the aftermath. Once word gets out that your system, and the sensitive clientele data along with it, was compromised, your organization may have to handle law troubles and deal with public outrages that cost huge amounts of money to settle. Not to mention that you may never regain the trust of your end-customers that you worked so hard to build.

BEC Attacks

Business correspondence includes promotional mailing campaigns, client meeting details, invoices, secure discussions and other sensitive points of discussions. This poses a threat for data leaks, misuse of email addresses, unnecessary exposure of the mailbox to third party spammers and phishers. As with ransomware, a BEC breach can cost both money and reputation.

Strategic Decisions

A business owner obviously aspires to grow bigger and flourish. To that end, businesses often take decisions that change their structure, hardware, communication channels, personnel etc. This leaves a lot of security vulnerabilities that may go unnoticed during the adaptation to change. This includes getting new hardware, upgrading to new software, dealing with new team members having their own standards of email communication, changing to a work-from-home culture, changing your database and application servers and a host of other avenues.

There are several more threats depending on scenarios, business models, communication models and security practices. If you need security assistance and are unsure on how to proceed, we would be glad to help. Simply head over to Logix and browse through our various offerings. If what we do resonates with you, feel free to drop us a line. We’re looking forward to hearing from you.