4 Reasons You Need Cyber Security
Cyber security is one of the most important and enduring topics of our time. The rising threshold of cyber breaches where information is siphoned out of corporations illegally and maliciously has raised the need for companies to increased emphasis on implementing and observing cyber security measures. As a business and an individual, you need to create a particular emphasis on cyber security awareness and implement measures targeting safeguarding your information with cyber safety mechanisms. Here are 4 important reasons as to why you need to observe cyber security measures.
The law demands so
The rising threats to cyber safety have led governments and authorities to raise their stakes in the bid to implement countermeasures to prevent cyber theft. Governments around the world, including the US and the EU, have various legal stipulations binding businesses to ensure they implement cyber protection mechanisms to prevent data theft. In the US, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) safeguards data from being carelessly stored and maliciously used. In the EU, the recently assented General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) targets protecting the privacy of individuals’ data.
Each of these stipulations demands that businesses take responsibility for every piece of customer data they hold. Failure to observe such safety mechanisms attracts hefty penalties as defined under the law with possible consequences including fines and imprisonment. You should, therefore, consider implementing cyber security mechanisms as a matter of compliance with the existing legal frameworks.
Ensure customers trust you
With hackers targeting to maliciously obtain and utilize person’s data such as Social Security Number and insurance details for personal financial gains, customers are increasingly fearing that information held by businesses would-be irregularly stored. Enforcing cyber security measures within your business is, therefore, an important mechanism to help win the trust of potential customers. Failure to implement such cyber security measures would be detrimental to the survival of your business as customers would relent entrusting you with critical information including even using their credit cards to purchased items from your business. In fact, statistics have shown that about 70% of customers will not relent stopping engaging with businesses that have had previous data breaches as they fear of suffering a similar fate.
Implementing cyber security measures to safeguard customers’ data acts as an incentive for customers to trust you. This establishes a strong reputation for yourself in the market.
Protect your data and secrets
As a business and an individual, you may have data and information that should be kept secretly out of reach of other persons. Cyber security is the shortest measure to protect against electronic theft of data and information for your business. Information such as customers’ data, payroll information, and some financial statements should be kept internally. Leaked corporate information can be detrimental to the success of the business especially if the said information contains company secrets such as strategies targeting improving on financial performances.
Leakage of such sensitive information deals a major blow to the business as competitors would be aware of the strategic direction that your business is taking. Besides, protecting such information is cost-effective as compared to the cost of restoring a damaged reputation.
High prevalent rates of cyber attacks
Businesses today are at an increased risk of being hacked into more than ever before. Statistics show that there is an alarming average of about 230,000 malware attacks on a daily basis and about 1 hacking attack every 39 seconds globally. Over half of such attacks are normally directed to individuals and small businesses, thereby putting yourself and your business at an increased risk of a potent cyber-attack. More than half of such cyber-attacks on persons and businesses are normally successful since no proper cyber security mechanisms have been put in place by the potential victims. This is, therefore, an important factor that should drive you to consider implementing cyber security mechanisms in your premises.
