According to Terranova Security, by 2025, 60% of organisations will see cybersecurity risk as an important consideration when deciding on transactions and business partnerships with third parties.
To prevent cyber threats and ensure the security of your customers' information, businesses must invest in a strong cybersecurity system.
This article explores cybersecurity threats businesses face, essential cybersecurity measures, real-world examples of businesses successfully mitigating cybersecurity threats, and proactive steps businesses can take to stay ahead of evolving threats.
Outline
The importance of cybersecurity in the digital age
Common cybersecurity threats business face and preventive measures
Impact of cyberattacks on brand reputation and customer trust
How to Protect Your Business from Cyber Attacks
Real-world case studies of businesses successfully overcoming cyberattacks
The importance of cybersecurity in the digital age
1. Protection of valuable data:
Digital data plays a crucial role in both our personal and professional lives. Cybersecurity protects this data from unauthorised access, theft, or manipulation.
2. Ensuring system reliability:
In order to run smoothly, businesses and individuals rely on dependable computer systems. Incidents of cybercrime can result in substantial monetary losses, interruptions to business, and server downtime.
3. Maintaining trust and reputation:
Individuals, businesses, and organisations can lose trust due to data breaches and cyberattacks, which can harm reputations and interfere with future business opportunities.
Common cybersecurity threats business face and preventive measures
Here are some cyber-security threats that businesses face and how they can be mitigated.
1. Phishing
Phishing is a cyber attack where attackers impersonate legitimate organisations or individuals in order to deceive individuals into providing sensitive information such as passwords, credit card numbers, or personal information.
It's done via email, social media, or messaging platforms. The most common types of phishing include smishing, pear smishing, and vishing. According to Astra, in 2023, IBM reported that phishing cost $4.9 million per attack.
Countering phishing attempts is best accomplished by teaching staff to be wary of giving sensitive information to unknown senders and to always check the email's legitimacy source before clicking on a link.
Preventive measures against phishing attacks:
- Train your staff to spot malicious emails
- Avoid opening spam emails
- Make sure you always operate with an updated antivirus
- Turn on Verification with Multiple Factors (MFA)
2. Ransomware:
Ransomware is a type of malware that locks and encrypts a victim's data, files, devices, or systems, rendering them inaccessible and unusable until a ransom is paid, most often in cryptocurrency.
Therefore, they take advantage of weak points in digital systems to blackmail people and businesses into paying ransom. It is mainly spread using malicious emails and infected websites.
According to Malwarebytes Labs, in January 2024, a record of 261 victims of ransomware attacks were recorded. An efficient cybersecurity plan and a dependable backup system can protect a company against ransomware.
Preventive measures against ransomware attacks:
- Update your software regularly to avoid using outdated versions.
- Always use your own USB drives.
- Always take caution while clicking on unknown links.
- Keep your VPN private when using public Wi-Fi.
3. Malware:
Software with the intent to cause harm, steal information, or otherwise compromise a computer system is known as malware.
Viruses, worms, trojans, spyware, adware, and ransomware are just a few examples. Malware gives third party users room to control your computer.
Stats show that email was the primary source for 92% of malware infections. Updating antivirus software and other security mechanisms on a regular basis is one way for businesses to prevent infection.
Preventive measures against malware attacks:
- Only download from trusted sources
- Make use of anti-virus software to identify and eliminate harmful applications.
- You should never click on links that come from an unknown source.
- Only make use of a trusted USB device
4. Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS):
A distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) assault is an intentional effort to flood an online website with an excessive amount of traffic in order to interrupt its normal operation and limit legal users' access to the website.
A coordinated effort by numerous systems can do this by overwhelming the bandwidth or resources of the targeted system.
Due to its capacity to affect a whole online user base, DDoS attacks are frequently chosen as a weapon of choice. The FBI shut down 13 DDoS-for-hire marketplaces in 2023, according to Krebsonsecurity.
Preventive measures against distributed denial of service (DDos)
- Implement a cloud based protection DDoS service
- Keep an eye on your website traffic
- Protect your web applications with a web application firewall (WAF).
- Build a safe system for your network
5. Social engineering attack:
One method of gaining unauthorised access to systems or information is through social engineering, which entails manipulating humans instead of taking advantage of security loopholes in technology.
It plays on people's emotions and psychology. According to Verizon's 2023 report, social engineering was the root cause of 10% of security incidents and 17% of data breaches.
A strong user authentication strategy, including the use of multi-factor authentication, can help businesses combat this.
Preventive measures against social engineering attacks:
- Get a Web Application Firewall (WAF) that is safe to use.
- Implement multi-factor authentication (MAF) for all your accounts’
- Perform a penetration test to identify security breach
- Configure advanced spam protection
Impact of cyberattacks on brand reputation and customer trust.
Your company's reputation, customer trust, and overall business standing can all take a hit if a cyberattack were to be successful.
A survey by the UK government stated that 32% of businesses and 24% of charities overall recall any breaches or attacks from the last 12 months. This is much higher for medium businesses (59%), large businesses (69%) and high-income charities with £500,000 or more in annual income (56%).
Three main types of damage can result from a security breach, which are:
1. Reputational Damage
An important part of every client relationship is trust. Cyber assaults have the potential to harm your company's image and decrease customer confidence in you, as customers would be worried about the safety of their personal data and information.
A company's reputation and ability to bring in new customers can both take a hit when cyberattacks happen. When this happens, it can cause a decline in revenue, a loss of customers and a reduction in net worth.
Reputational damage can have far-reaching consequences, potentially affecting your relationships with investors, partners, and other stakeholders in your company.
2. Financial Cost
Significant monetary losses due to cyber attacks often stem from the loss of sensitive company data, unauthorised access to financial data, commercial or contractual setbacks, and the stealing of funds.
In the aftermath of a data breach, companies often face additional expenses related to fixing compromised systems, networks, websites, and devices. Which can cost a lot of money to fix.
3. Legal consequences
You are responsible for ensuring the safety of any and all personally identifiable information (PII) that you collect or store, whether it pertains to your employees or your clients, according to data protection and privacy laws.
Fines and regulatory penalties can be imposed if this data is inadvertently or intentionally breached and proper security measures are not put in place.
In extreme cases where the compromise has caused harm to people, it may result in a court case as many victims start to sue for breach of privacy. This could have a negative impact on your business and finances because you would need to make numerous settlements with the affected people and pay legal fees.
How to Protect Your Business from Cyber Attacks
1: Data Encryption:
To ensure the safety of data while it is in motion and stored, use cutting-edge encryption technologies.
The process entails utilising an encryption method and a secret key or password to encode the original data, also known as plaintext.
Data is rendered unintelligible in the event of interception unless the correct decryption key is possessed.
2. Employee Training:
Invest in a comprehensive cybersecurity training programme for your team. Your organisation's defences will be strengthened if you equip them to identify and prevent common dangers like ransomware, whaling, and other cyberattack attempts. Training your employees would save you the financial cost that comes with a cyberattack.
3. Regular Updates:
Always use the most recent security fixes for your marketing software, especially your CRM systems. Installing the most recent security patches on a regular basis will safeguard your software, operating system, and plugins from known vulnerabilities. Known vulnerabilities and bugs are fixed with regular updates.
4. Strong Passwords & MFA:
A combination of strong passwords and multi-factor authentication (MFA) forms an impenetrable wall against unwanted access.
Assuming an attacker manages to breach one component, the other will still provide another obstacle. For further protection, enforce tight password standards (minimum length, complexity, and regular changes).
5. Backup Data Regularly:
To safeguard vital company information in the event of a cyberattack or system failure,set up a routine backup system that is reliable and secure.
Be prepared to rapidly recover from any interruptions by implementing a disaster recovery plan.
6. Routine Checkup:
In order to put the right security measures in place in time, you need to regularly evaluate your systems and networks for possible risks and vulnerabilities by conducting a routine checkup on your data, operating system, and software applications.
7. Compliance with Regulations:
Always be up-to-date on data protection regulations like GDPR or CCPA. Have a thorough understanding of and abide by all applicable data privacy laws and industry standards.
To stay on the right side of the law, make sure your strategies and system of operation match these requirements.
Real-world case studies of businesses successfully overcoming cyberattacks
Yahoo
Between 2013 and 2016, Yahoo was hit by a string of data breaches that eventually affected more than three billion user accounts.
Details such as usernames, email addresses, phone numbers, and password hashes were made public during the hacks. Many people were unhappy that Yahoo didn't tell them about these breaches sooner and that its safety protocols weren't good enough.
In order to get back on its feet, Yahoo offered impacted customers free credit monitoring and introduced new security measures. The corporation also sold its internet division to Verizon for a lower price. Resulting from these instances, Yahoo's reputation took a hit.
Equifax
The credit reporting organisation Equifax had 143 million consumers' private information compromised in a data breach that happened in 2017. Hackers were able to access consumer data due to a security hole in the company's website software.
Multiple lawsuits were filed against Equifax as a result of the breach, and the company also lost the trust of its consumers. Additionally, the market value of the corporation lost billions of dollars as a consequence of the stock's rapid decline.
Equifax introduced new security measures to avoid future breaches and provided impacted consumers with free credit monitoring and identity theft protection as part of their recovery efforts.
Along with providing victims with identity theft protection and credit monitoring services, they settled with authorities for $700 million. After the security breach, this incident led to the resignation of multiple executives, including the chief executive officer.
Future trends in cybersecurity and proactive steps businesses can take to stay ahead of emerging threats
It is important to keep an eye on the following trends that are expected to emerge in the near future, along with some proactive measures that businesses can take to ensure they remain competitive.
Emerging Threats:
1. Quantum Computing:
Encryption techniques such as RSA and ECC are currently employed to keep sensitive information safe, but quantum computers have the ability to crack them.
Thereby leaking sensitive government data, healthcare records, financial transactions, and individual identities and compromising them.
2. Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS):
Developers engage in RaaS when they build and sell infrastructure and tools for ransomware to other criminals.
The RaaS operator usually keeps a share of the ransom money, while these affiliates retain some. After that, they begin attacking.
This facilitates the launch of ransomware attacks by those with less technical expertise, which in turn increases the frequency and sophistication of ransomware operations.
3. AI-powered Attacks:
The cybersecurity sector is increasingly concerned about assaults fueled by AI. The use of AI and ML allows attackers to automate complex, targeted attacks that are difficult for traditional defences to withstand.
By automating steps like reconnaissance, targeting, and exploitation, AI can make attacks more efficient, fast, and harder to detect.
Proactive Steps:
1. Zero Trust Architecture:
Functions according to the concept of "never trust, always verify." Prior to authorising every attempt to access a resource, every person, device, and programme must first undergo authentication.
As a result, attackers are unable to take advantage of trusted access and the explosion radius of a breach is reduced.
2. Continuous Security Awareness Training:
Staff members who receive enough training can lessen the likelihood of successful assaults by keeping an eye out for unusual behaviour, reporting dangers quickly, and adhering to established security protocols.
Training personnel on a regular basis keeps them up-to-date with new threats and their strategies, allowing them to respond effectively in an ever-changing environment.
3. Invest in Threat Intelligence:
A crucial preventative step for cybersecurity is to invest in threat intelligence. By keeping tabs on the ever-changing threat landscape, it helps your organisation stay ahead of future assaults and make well-informed decisions regarding its security position.
In order to deploy resources wisely and prioritise security initiatives, it is important to have a good grasp of the specific threats affecting your industry or location.
4. Penetration Testing and Vulnerability Assessments:
Any solid cybersecurity plan must include penetration testing (pen testing) and vulnerability assessments (VAs).
Finding and fixing vulnerabilities before attackers use them can greatly reduce data breaches and other cyberattacks.
To help prioritise security investments and allocate resources efficiently, pen testing and VAs provide data-driven insights.
5. Stay Informed and Adapt:
Having security measures in place isn't sufficient in today's ever-changing cybersecurity scene. Keeping up with the latest information and being flexible are essential for staying ahead of changing threats and maintaining a strong security defence system.
By conducting routine checkups, encrypting your data, conducting awareness and training, regular updates, and making use of strong passwords and multi-factor authentication, you can feel secure and at ease while you surf the internet without fear of encountering cyber attacks or not knowing how to take immediate measures in case of a security breach.