Why is Cybersecurity Important to my Business Technology?
Cybercrime is now organised crime’s biggest earner worldwide. In 2019, the global economy is forecast to reach a value of $88 trillion. In 2018, however, $6 trillion was lost to cybercrime. That means that we’re now looking at losing around 7% of the global economy to cybercrime every single year.
Why is Cybercrime so Costly?
The average cost to a business of a successful cyberattack is $7.35 million. This can include the value of lost data, paying hefty ransom fees, loss of productivity and much more. As a result of the substantial cost of a successful cyberattack, 60% of small- and medium-sized businesses go out of business within six months of a breach.
With cybercrime on the rise year on year and so few businesses surviving a successful attack, it’s more important than ever to ensure that your business and its technology are protected from the huge, and growing, threat of cybercrime. Cyber criminals don’t just target big businesses; no matter your business’s size, your data is important to you, and cyber criminals know that. They rely on that. That is what they use.
Why is Cybersecurity More Important Now Than Before?
Not only is cybercrime on the rise, but cyber criminals are becoming more advanced in their efforts and their portfolio of ways in which they can attack you is only widening, meaning that businesses really have to keep their wits about them in order to stay protected. Gone are the days when anti-virus technology alone was enough to protect your business against cybercrime. Nowadays, viruses only make up a small percentage of the plethora of ways in which a business can be attacked.
What Are the Different Kinds of Attack?
Cybercriminals are attacking businesses in a number of different ways. Some of these include:
- Phishing. You’ve probably heard of phishing; the term refers to the way in which a cyber criminal will use fraudulent communications (phone calls, emails, etc) with the purpose of tricking the recipient into giving away sensitive information, such as passwords, PINs, etc.
- Whaling. You can think of whaling as being much like phishing, but dealing with bigger fish. Cyber criminals will impersonate a big fish within your organisation, whether that be a Director, Manager, CEO, Finance Director, etc., and ask another member of the organisation, likely in the accounts department, to make or approve a large payment. Because this email looks, for all intents and purposes, like it is coming from the Director, CEO, etc., the employee then approves the payment of a substantial sum of money to what turns out to be the cyber criminal’s own bank account.
- Ransomware. Ransomware does exactly what it says on the tin; it holds your data to ransom. Once it infiltrates your systems, ransomware allows cyber criminals to remotely encrypt your data. Once this has happened, you’ll receive a message demanding huge quantities of money in order to get your data back. Otherwise, it’s lost forever. Businesses of all sizes can be hit by ransomware attacks because cyber criminals know that, whatever size a business may be, its data is hugely important to its operation.
- Malware theft. This is where hackers install key logging software on your systems, allowing them to gather crucial access data, such as bank log-ins, which they can then use for their own gain.
- Phone hacks. It is possible for cyber criminals to hack your company’s phone system, setting your phones to automatically and repeatedly dial premium rate numbers, which are in fact owned by the hackers, and thus racking up an extortionate fee.
These are only a few examples of how your business might be attacked. Every day cyber criminals are finding new ways to target businesses, and this is why it’s more important than ever to make sure that you’re protected.
Do I Have to Invest in my Business’s Cybersecurity?
If you want to stay protected, and stay in business, then yes. Your business will need to be constantly investing in cybersecurity just to keep up with the increasing sophistication of modern cybercrime. Not only that, but businesses must now invest in a broader range of measures in order to successfully protect themselves against the widening range of attacks to which they could be subjected.
The Solution? Business Cybersecurity with EPX Technical Services
If you’re worried that your business could become the victim of a malicious and very costly cyberattack, you’re not alone. EPX can help to give you peace of mind.
Our Cybersecurity offering is split into four categories: Baseline, Cybersecurity, Enterprise and Consultancy. These varying levels of protection mean that we can tailor our offering in line with your company’s budget and available resource. This means that, whatever size you are, you can invest in the appropriate protection. What’s more, we can scale and grow our services in the future, in line with your business development.
To find out how you can ensure your own peace of mind in the scary world of cybercrime, contact EPX Technical Services today on 01785 878 311, or email info@epx.co.uk.
