Experts estimate that roughly $3 trillion are lost around the world annually due to data loss, cyber attacks, online frauds, and intellectual-property theft. These cyber attacks target all kinds of businesses that carry out transactions over the internet. Banks, financial institutions, retail businesses, and hi-tech companies are especially vulnerable to these attacks as greater connectivity is integral to their operations.
In this blog post, we review the benefits offered by cyber security to businesses in different sectors.
Data Leaks
If your company works in the hi-tech or manufacturing sector, you will need proper protection for your research data. Your intellectual property includes computer models, plans for new components and software algorithms developed by your team. The research data can be stolen from you and sold off to competitors.
Pharmaceutical businesses, auto manufacturers, and other hi-tech companies face the threat of data leaks with hackers breaking into their systems and stealing important information from the business.
Businesses can take protective measures by limiting access to their data available on the public domain, high-level encryption, and monitoring tools that track user activity on their servers.
Ransomware Protection
Ransomware is a kind of cyber attack where the hacker gains access to a company’s sensitive data and encrypts it. This prevents other users and the business from using the data as well. The attacker then demands payment for releasing a key that can decrypt the data.
More and more businesses are storing their databases on the cloud for better accessibility. This is particularly true for banks and credit unions that need to store client accounts’ data online so that users can access it more easily. Hackers are constantly coming up with new ways of getting control of the data and encrypt it to demand a ransom.
Developers have built many Ransomware protection tools that can be used to monitor and thwart any attacks.
Phishing Attacks
Phishing attacks have been around for a long time. It involves gaining access to a person’s information to exploit the account associated with it. Phishing attacks can be used to gain access to emails or bank accounts and the hacker then uses the information to transfer funds or divert ongoing transactions to their own account.
Cyber attackers no longer need to carry out the attacks themselves. The improvement in AI today allows them to set up a computer program to carry out the attacks automatically.
To protect your business from such attacks, experts advises following it risk management ideas like not to open or respond to any unsolicited emails that ask for personal information. Businesses should also refrain from posting too much sensitive information online, such as bank account numbers or employee social security numbers.
Benefits of Cyber Security
Businesses can derive many benefits from keeping their data protected. Here are 10 good reasons why you should consider implementing cyber security for your business.
- Cyber security will prevent your data from getting stolen or damaged by cyber criminals. Investment in good cyber security will reduce your costs.
- It helps protect the sensitive information about your business, customers, and other stakeholders. Good data protection will keep your personal and business information safe.
- When you have adequate safety measures in place, your employees will have ease of mind. They will be more productive and feel secure working for you.
- Malware, Trojans, and Viruses take up system resources and will slow down your business productivity. A cyber attack can severely affect your business productivity and even bring your operations to a stop.
- Spyware is a form of malicious software that simply collects information from your business without disrupting any operations. It can be just as dangerous as any other attack by revealing your business secrets to cyber criminals. Protection against spyware keeps your business safe and secure.
- Proper protection from cyber-attacks will also improve the confidence of your customers. It will tell them that your business will protect their information and any transactions that they carry out with your company will be encrypted.
- Data backups are a type of cyber security measures that will also improve your business continuity. For example, a cyber attack that takes down your database can cause you to shut down operations until the business recovers from the data breach. However, investment in data backups will keep your business operational and you won’t have to lose any transactions.
