The Hidden Cost of Cyberattacks and How to Prevent Them
Operating a business without implementing security measures can be risky to your organization. Today’s hackers continue to devise new and creative ways to hack systems and manipulate information. This can result in a data breach, leading to huge losses.
Unfortunately, many people do not know much about the hidden costs of cyberattacks. Learning about them will prompt you to take immediate measures to prevent future attacks. Below are the hidden costs of cyberattacks.
Increased Insurance Premiums
After a data breach, organizations pay higher insurance premiums because insurance companies perceive such organizations as a greater risk. However, it is worth noting that there is no guarantee that cyber insurance offers full coverage for an organization that experiences cybercrime.
Insurance companies expect organizations to implement safety measures to keep their systems safe from hackers. Once you set the security measures, you need to assess the system regularly to ensure it is safe all through.
Increased Borrowing Costs
Any organization that suffers data breaches gets higher interest rates on loans. Cyber breaches cause the organization to appear a high risk to the lender. This affects the credit rating, leading to a low rating. The business will incur higher costs when raising debts and negotiating debts.
Also, such as organization loses its potential to partner with investors. This limits the organization’s potential to acquire more capital and grow the business.
While there are ways you can increase your credit score and acquire better loans with a lower interest, you should first take measures to prevent cyber-attacks before it escalates to a data breach. This can save you huge financial losses in the long run.
Business Disruption or Destruction
If your business suffers a data breach, it can lead to business disruption. Huge financial, your business could go down the drain in a second. For instance, when hackers navigate through your system, they can mess with sensitive information and use it against you.
When such an incident happens, you need to find a way to restore your business before you lose your customers. You may need to repair your equipment, upgrade the system and improve the current resources. This can take you a lot of time and may also stall the growth of your business.
Lost Customer Relationships
Once a data breach occurs, you may lose track of your customer details in your system. Even if you had thousands of customers, you might end up losing all of them. In this case, you need to invest more time, effort, and money to quantify the total number of lost customers and how it affects your revenue system.
Attracting and acquiring new customers will be a whole lot of work and time. But this is the only way to get back on track since a business cannot operate effectively and generate profits without customers. You will need to estimate how much money you need to invest in attracting, acquiring, and retaining your customers.
How to Prevent Hidden Costs on Cyberattacks
Luckily, you can implement measures to prevent cyberattacks. It doesn’t matter the size or age of your business. Taking measures earlier can help you prevent further occurrences and enable you to operate your business effectively. Here is what to do.
• Train all your employees on ways to identify, prevent and report potential attacks.
• Create strong passwords to protect your log-in credentials and change them often.
• Upgrade your systems by investing in advanced software with quality features.
• Avoid signing in your work devices using shared networks.
• Implementing two-factor authentication makes it difficult for hackers to log in.
The Bottom Line
It is best to implement security measures when you are setting up your business. This will help you operate your business with peace of mind knowing your systems have adequate security. However, even if you are already operating, you need to implement security measures to keep your system safe from scammers.
