With rising cyber concerns among businesses worldwide, security is becoming more and more of a priority, but has the issue always been this prominent, with the need for burglar alarms? What’s worst, having your fleet of devices stolen, along with mouse and keyboard, or have the data stolen and usurped? Here Lawyer Monthly has heard from Darren Guccione, CEO of Keeper Inc., who answers the question: is cyber protection more important than having a burglar alarm at the office?
Cyber protection is more important than having a burglar alarm in the office. Many organizations spend a tremendous amount of money and time preparing for disasters such as theft, tornadoes, earthquakes, fires and floods without protecting their digital assets and the PII (personally identifiable information) of their employees and customers. The fact is, the chances are greater a computer security incident will occur than any one of these scenarios.
According to the Ponemon Institute, the impact of cyber threats is rising, with the average cost of a data breach now over $7 million. The exposure businesses can face in the event of a data breach include direct and cross-claims relating to costs incurred to investigate and mitigate damages that could be attributed to the breach, indemnification from individual or class action lawsuits filed against the business by employees or customers, and penalties for violations of government regulations. Other damages can include reputational damage and network damage.
On average it takes 46 days to resolve a cyber attack at an average cost of $21,155 per day. Furthermore, 76 percent of consumers say they would move away from companies with a high record of data breaches and business disruption accounts for 39% of total external costs. If a business is disrupted during its busy season the cost could affect more than half the business’s annual income.
It is clear from this data that a significant data breach can put an organization out of business. A frustrating fact is that there are simple measures a company can take to prevent breaches.
For instance, a startling report by the Ponemon Institute, sponsored by Keeper Security, titled ‘The 2016 State of SMB Cybersecurity’, found that 50% of SMBs (Small and Mid-sized businesses) have been breached in the past 12 months. Considering more than 80% of breaches are due to weak or poor password management it was a shock to find out that 59% of SMBs have no visibility into their employee password practice and hygiene. In fact, 65% that have a password policy do not strictly enforce it.
In a modern digital world adding a strong cyber defense, by adopting a password manager such as Keeper, is more valuable to a business’s overall security than a burglar alarm.
