Rob Koch, Chief Executive Officer at DYOPATH
How capable is your organization of responding to a cyberattack? With statistics showing that cyberattacks happen on average, every 39 seconds, you are likely facing a near constant barrage of threats. This leaves the probability that your organization will be breached at an all-time high. To make things even more alarming – it is very, very possible that it has been already.
But how do you know what you don’t know?
Threat actors can camp out within networks for months, searching for weaknesses they can exploit and gathering sensitive data. This happens much more than you might think, with an average time of 280 days to identify and contain a data breach.
Most parts of a cyberattack are out of a targeted organization’s control. You don’t always know who is attacking you, why, when, and where they’re doing so, or their efficiency and determination to succeed at their attack.
But the one thing you can control is how rapidly you are able to detect and respond to an attack. You do this with the right security program in place.
In my last blog, I touched on creating a security culture within your organization using a flexible and holistic security program. In today’s blog, I’m going to elaborate on how having the right security program is the key to protecting your organization in the event of a breach.
What’s the Real Impact of a Security Breach?
You might be wondering if it is really necessary to use part of your budget defending against breaches. But I can assure you it is. As I insinuated above, it is more about when your organization will become the target of a security breach, rather than if.
No organization, despite its size, is immune from a breach. And without the appropriate security program in place to detect and respond to a breach, the costs can be astronomical. Data from the past several years shows just how costly a security breach can be:
- S. breaches cost organizations over $1.8 trillion over the last two years.
- The United States had the highest average cost of a data breach in 2020 at $8.64 million.
- Healthcare, banking (insurance/financial), education, government, and retail make up the top five industries impacted by number of breaches.
- The average total cost of a data breach in the education industry was $3.9 million between August 2019 and April 2020, with 48% occurring from malicious attacks, 26% from system glitches, and 26% from human error.
Of course, none of this data factors in the social impact of a data breach on an organization’s reputation. Consumers are not so easily persuaded to forgive and forget, especially when their personally identifiable information (PII) is compromised.
Do you believe your organization can handle damages as great as the statistics I shared above?
Trust Our Team of Security Experts and We Can Help You with Your Business Continuity Needs to Prevent Costly Breaches
The best way to avoid costly breaches is to implement a strong security program. In the past, and even still today, many business leaders believe that the addition of a few tools such as anti-virus and anti-malware software is enough to combat cyberthreats and keep their organizations secure. But in today’s environment, this couldn’t be further from the truth.
What is needed is a holistic security program that includes people, processes, and tools. And truthfully, people and processes are the real key to making a difference; tools are secondary because without the appropriate people and processes, tools won’t be enough to make a difference. But used together, this three-pillar approach becomes a powerhouse of security, blanketing your organization with the defensive and offensive protection needed to combat cyberthreats, improve your security posture, and improve your business continuity needs to prevent costly breaches.
Thank you for taking time to read this blog. As part of our “Security Is a Journey, not a Destination” campaign, we are aiming to educate business leaders on viewing security as a holistic program, rather than just technology. I have one remaining blog coming up for this campaign where I’ll share considerations you should think about before investing in security to avoid wasted costs and increase ROI.
You can learn more about DYOPATH and our Managed Security services by visiting our website.
Rob Koch, Chief Executive Officer
DYOPATH
About the author: Rob Koch is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at DYOPATH and a pioneer within the managed service provider (MSP) vertical. He sets the culture, vision, strategy, and overall business direction across DYOPATH. His leadership of DYOPATH is grounded in his personal values of adventure, determination, health, learning, love, peace, and success. His passion for DYOPATH comes from the people, “We have the best!”, says Koch. His favorite quote is, “It’s not the Destination, It’s the Journey.” Ralph Waldo Emerson.