How confident are you that your employees act in the best interest of your company’s security with every decision they make? While it’s certainly the case that you, as the business owner, think along these lines, it’s also true that the average worker isn’t nearly as motivated about network security as you are. The challenge, then, for business owners is to get everyone in your organization on the same page when it comes to security best practices.
Today’s headlines are peppered with stories of major companies and institutions falling victim to a cyberattack. As a business owner, what’s your response to these gut-wrenching stories? If you write them off as fear mongering and believe that these attacks can never happen to your SMB, well, you’re wrong. They can and it’s up to you to prevent such a disaster.
Data breaches are common problems for businesses of all shapes and sizes. In fact, they often have huge repercussions that aren’t initially seen in the heat of the moment. How can you make sure that a data breach won’t negatively impact your business, even well after you’ve fixed the initial problem?
Firewalls are one of those things that businesses need, but may not have. They are integral parts of network security for organizations of all shapes and sizes, as well as the average PC user. We’ll discuss what a firewall does for your organization, and why it’s important that you implement one as soon as possible.
With all of the major data breaches making the news these days, it’s not very surprising when you hear about a new one. However, what is surprising is just how much the average cost per breach has skyrocketed in recent years. The cost of data breaches is up 29 percent since 2013, which equates to roughly $4 million per data breach.
This sobering statistic is from a recent study by the Ponemon Institute and IBM Data. In it, 283 international companies that experienced a major data breach were examined. Here are some more findings from the study:
It’s important to keep in mind that this study doesn’t track the reputation fallout that a business experiences after news of their data breach goes public. This includes future customers choosing another business, as well as losing clientele. It’s difficult to put a number to factors like these, but one thing’s for sure; it will certainly be a major loss for any business that experiences a data breach. Reasons like these are why the average business that fails to recover their lost data after a breach will go out of business within one year of the incident.
Do you think that you’ve got what it takes to bounce back from a costly data breach? If you’re unprepared and you don’t have a proper data backup solution or your business continuity plan is inadequate, then you’re in for a world of hurt.
Therefore, how much should you invest in a quality data backup solution? Before you make your decision, consider three more relevant points of interest from the study.
Cost per record from data theft due to malicious intent: $236. This is data that’s considered lost or stolen due to hacking attacks like ransomware or viruses. This category is virtually limitless with thousands of new strains of malware released on the Internet every single day.
Cost per record from data loss due to hardware failure: $213. This is data that’s lost due to system malfunction or hardware failure, like a server or workstation crashing unexpectedly. The good news; hardware failure is relatively easy to safeguard yourself against if you follow best practices and perform routine maintenances on all of your equipment.
Cost per record from data loss due to human error: $197. This is data that’s lost due to the actions of the user. It could be from intentional actions like sabotage by a disgruntled employee, but it’s often accidental, like moving a file to the wrong place or deleting something important. The best way to protect yourself from human error is by educating everybody who accesses your company’s data; a tall task if your staff consists of computer novices.
The takeaway from all of this is that your data is perhaps worth more than what you realized. Therefore, you need to protect your company with solutions that can minimize the risk of threats and help you bounce back quickly, should a breach ever occur. Infradapt has the enterprise-level security solutions that you need, like firewall, antivirus, spam-blocking, content filtering, backup and disaster recovery, and more, to ensure your business won’t be derailed by an unforeseen data breach. To learn how we can best protect you, call us today at 800.394.2301.