If your business is heavily reliant on connecting people via the cyber space, then cyber security is not a luxury, but a necessity. Oftentimes it feels as if cyber security is a luxury, as quality and thorough cyber security risk assessments and preventive mechanisms is costly.
You may struggle to attain executive buy-in if stakeholders can’t see directly that the marginal costs in building a sound security infrastructure is justified. The fact is, it very often does — the upfront cost is likely smaller in comparison to the potential loss incurred by a cyber security breach.
Short-term and long-term losses
We need not to look far to see the extent of the financial loss by cyber security breach. According to Ponemon Institute, the average “cost per compromised record” is $380 for healthcare organizations and $336 for financial services providers.
Healthcare and financial service providers are most vulnerable to cyber criminals because each record has very sensitive ties to many aspects of an individual. Such data are so valuable that they can be held ransom (in the case of a ransomware attack) or directly sold to a third party, such as a corrupt market research agency.
While financial service providers understand the risks of compromised financial and access data, unfortunately in the healthcare sector alone, there is a disturbing lack of awareness of data security risks.
It is clear that the short-term financial damage is severe, as hundreds of dollars multiplied by thousands of records can yield a horrifying total cost. A company that has experienced a breach is most likely pressured to immediately invest in cyber security. Not doing so will allow two possibilities — the brand loses its place in the market by direct or indirect means, or data breach will occur a second time.
Cyber security costs are predictable, recovery costs are not
For some smaller companies, the upfront cost of cyber security may seem like a financial shock. However, this cost is predictable, and many cyber security agencies such as Xynexis International, offer many flexible service packages in order to enable every organization to defend themselves against threats.
