During the past several days, there has been a dramatic shift in the cyber security landscape. According to Microsoft, this should act as a wake-up call for all business throughout the world. A huge cyberespionage campaign targeting the U.S. government serves as a stark reminder of how hazardous the world may be for everyone functioning online today. All businesses must have a strong cybersecurity culture in order to defend themselves and their customers. As a result of poor cybersecurity, the costs are too great for anybody to bear.
62% of customers worldwide are concerned about fraud or identity theft. Mastercard and Harvard Business Review Analytic Services commissioned a new poll, which found that just 43 % are concerned about it. By 2022, cybercrime is expected to cost the United States an estimated $6 trillion a year, up from the 2018 figure of $3 trillion. When customers lose faith in a business which only makes things more difficult for business industries.
Although today's highly mobile, always-connected world is a benefit to businesses, it is also a rich potential source for cyber-criminals. Techniques including malware files, drive-by installations, DDoS assaults, ransomware, keyloggers, and screen grabs, in addition to social engineering techniques like phishing, are becoming more popular.
Despite the apparent complexity of a business's cybersecurity measures, these incidents typically come as a complete shock to the organization. Organizations that are vulnerable to a cyberattack do not have adequate plans in place to deal with it effectively.
What Business should do?
The hacking of SolarWinds should serve as a wake-up call to businesses all over the world, prompting them to make cybersecurity an all-encompassing priority that pervades every aspect of company culture. A significant number of companies continue to see cybersecurity as an information technology problem solely. This is the wrong approach to adopt.
Cybersecurity is a topic that should be addressed at every level of your business. Financial managers should know why investing in cybersecurity isn't a matter of "How much does cybersecurity cost?" but instead of asking, "What is at risk for our organization if we don't spend time defending it?" It is essential that all staff get taught on the basics of thwarting malware-based attacks by hackers. To be successful, CEOs must recognize the importance of cybersecurity as an investment. Is your cybersecurity chief a decision-maker with any influence? Prior to collaborating with them, how effectively are you able to examine their cybersecurity policies?
A company's annual report or website is an excellent opportunity for companies to reveal any systems or frameworks they have in place to protect themselves against cyber-attacks, as well as to highlight the problem.
For businesses that have previously suffered financial and operational losses due to this risk, it is imperative that they address the problem by revealing how they dealt with it, the procedure used, the conclusions, and how they implemented a mitigation mechanism as a consequence. The most important thing is to be open and honest in the business sector.
Why is it important to have a clear cyber security framework?
Having a clear cyber security framework in place is critical as companies begin to incorporate the Internet of Things into their operations and products. This will help to prevent damage from future cyber-attacks that could have devastating effects on a company's reputation, finances, and operational performance.
Cyber threats are a major danger to any firm that collects and processes personal data in-house, outsources this activity to third parties, or believes it to be an important risk that might interrupt operations.
How are businesses handling the risk of cyberattacks in their annual reports?
There are a variety of methods in which cyber security may be handled depending on the level of risk a business is willing to take.
Cyber-threats are a major challenge for businesses like easyJet, Worldpay, and M&S, who are open about how the threat is tied to the company's overall strategy and the procedures in place to monitor and combat it.
Cybersecurity awareness, on the other hand, addresses the cyber problem via a pull-out in the risk assessment or corporate governance portions of the report to show understanding into this risk and why it is not regarded as significant, despite the fact that the cybersecurity awareness program does not consider it a primary risk.
What Happens Next
Companies have begun providing clear insights into what aspects of their businesses could be considered vulnerable to cyber threats and the mitigation activities that are currently in place to prevent these threats in light of the fact that transparency and accountability are considered to be the foundation of good corporate reporting.
Moving forward, businesses should seriously consider going beyond merely recognizing cybersecurity as a principal threat to the business. Instead, they should clearly explain how the governance, processes, and resources are structured in order to identify, manage, and mitigate this risk, ultimately safeguarding the business from it.