There was a time when security meant adding a better padlock to your store, hiring a guard, or adding CCTV cameras around the workplace to find out who was stealing the staplers. But ever since technology made advancements in leaps and bounds, our entire perception of security changed. Now we have cybersecurity.
Why do we need cybersecurity?
Because all the businesses worldwide are dealing with one of the most sought after, in-demand, and precious currency in the world: data, yes, that’s right. Data is the new oil, and businesses guard their data against all attempts to access it. It includes all the personal, confidential data that we handover to a company to make a transaction. It encompasses, but is not limited to, your name, email address, IP address, credit card number, social security number, personal health information, and more. It is highly sensitive data that businesses and governments spend millions to keep it safe and out of harm’s way.
As technology advances further, we see a darker side, just like the positive side. The darker side refers to hackers getting into our systems and taking all the data away for their purposes. The larger our businesses become, the more data we have, the more valuable it becomes for others. That is why we need cybersecurity. Many people are considerate and question what is cybersecurity? and how one can refrain from hacks.
What is Cybersecurity?
Suppose you didn’t know before, you must have guessed from the above discussion. Cybersecurity means protecting and recovering your mobile, computer, web, and other systems from any cyber-attack. A cyber-attack is the attempt from persons unknown to steal, damage, or change your data, and these attacks are becoming more frequent.
Why Do We Need Cybersecurity?
Like we mentioned earlier, the cyber-attacks on our businesses, governments, NGOs, and more are becoming more sophisticated with each passing day. It means that we have to keep abreast of the latest technologies and trends and improve our Cybersecurity operations to match the hackers’ speed. This task becomes more important once we realize how much we have started relying on technology for our day to day operations and how much data we are ready to offer in return. As we know, this trend is not going away, and our reliance on technology is only going to increase. We can have a glimpse of how critical cybersecurity is. Add to it the need for cloud-based computing, and things start looking much worse.
Let’s see what cyber-attacks and cyber-crimes are and what we can do about it.
The increase in cyber-crimes
When money was the most vital currency in the world, people were going after that. It still is, but now there’s another currency in town, and that is data. Hence we see that cyber-crimes are increasing daily—identity theft and information theft are some of the fastest forms of cybercrimes. Moreover, industries that use technology to control manufacturing, power lines, and other infrastructures are also targeted. That is done to disrupt the industry and put the organization or government at a significant loss.
We see cyber-crimes in the form of ransomware, phishing, and spyware. These are the most common ways to hurt businesses and governments around the world. The problem is that your data is not just bound to one company. If you are making a transaction with a particular business, they might share your data with their vendors, and those vendors might not have up-to-date Cybersecurity protocols in place.
The average cost of cybercrime has risen by $1.4 million to $13 million in the last year. The average number of cybercrimes and attacks has increased to a whopping 11 percent. Our information has never been more at risk of being taken away.
The Impact of Cybercrimes
If you are not aware of the proper Cybersecurity protocols or if your Cybersecurity measures are outdated, you can feel the wrongdoers’ wrath in different ways.
Economic Impact
They might steal your data about your property, your corporate information, or they might try to damage the infrastructure, which will result in a tremendous economic cost to your business. According to a study, most companies do not fully recover, and some even experience plummeting sales.
Reputation
This one is obvious. Once the customers know that you were hacked and that their personal and confidential data is lost, they might never trust you again. A customer’s trust is arduous to come by, and once they lose it, they will never put their trust in your brand too. No amount of marketing or promotions can repair that damage.
Regulatory Impact
Whether you are a government or any other institute, you have to make sure that you pay enough attention to your Cybersecurity needs. It means doing many things like educating your employees about the types of attacks that can happen, upgrading your system from time to time, ensuring that you have the latest protocols in place, and everything in between.
What Can You Do Against Cybercrime?
You can follow several methods to ensure that your business is safe from cyber-attacks, or if it is, you can handle it in time. The foremost step that you must take is:
Educate
Like we said earlier, you have to make sure that you educate your employees at all levels about the risks of cybercrimes, the challenges of cybersecurity, and the responsibilities that each person has. It not only includes your managers but for employees at all levels. Conduct training, workshops, and more. It is especially the case since many organizations have a BYD (Bring Your Device) policy, making you an easy target.
In The End
It is not the time for a company to ask what cybersecurity is and what they can do about it. It is the time for a company to get down to business and do whatever they can to prevent what is inevitably going to happen. Make sure that you follow all the compliance and regulatory policies of your national and local government, and build a sophisticated system that has the power to fight back.