Budgeting season is upon us – and with so many headlines in the press about the perils of cybercrime, many companies are ramping up investments in cyber security awareness.
As more companies go digital, protecting the personal information of their clients and employees alike is more important than ever, and it’s also harder to do than it ever has been. Users need to be aware of all the risks they are subjected to every day as a simple click on a malicious link can be enough to cause tremendous damage to a company’s reputation in addition to painful financial losses.
Why should we be concerned about cybersecurity costs?
Let’s have a look at the numbers: how much does it really cost to repair the damages following a data breach? Statistics show that across all businesses, the average amount to resolve a data breach is $3.86 million globally. If we look into more detail, we can see that the costs vary substantially according to the industry affected.
- For instance, financial services continue to be the most targeted sector, with 36% of all cyber attacks ever recorded, incurring costs of $18 million per firm.
- With medical records fetching as much as $1,000 per record on the black market, the healthcare industry is also one of the cyberattackers’ top preferences. $16 million is the largest-ever settlement for a healthcare data breach following a spear-phishing email attack.
In addition to the tremendous financial losses incurred following a phishing attack, there are some other costs that are often overlooked. We are talking about brand reputation costs and loss of revenue. These costs have equal importance and strong impact on the recovery process. After a security breach, as more system delays or shutdowns prevent smooth functioning, clients can lose their confidence in a once trusted brand, and force the victimized company to make serious investments to gain back their trust.
Your employees are your weakest security link
Cybercriminals know this, and they prey on the human factor, making use of people’s instincts of curiosity and trust to lead well-intentioned people into clicking, downloading, and installing malware, divulging sensitive information, and errantly wiring funds. This explains why more than 60% of business owners reported that security breaches are caused by employee negligence.
However, only 61% of companies have a budget for cybersecurity awareness training, so most employees are not even made aware of their company’s security risks, not to mention that they don’t feel accountable for their company’s IT security. In addition, only 35% of companies say that their senior management believes it is a priority for their employees to be aware of how data security risks can affect the organization. This only increases the risk for the company to become a victim of phishing attacks.
Looking at all these facts from an objective perspective, we will find out that it costs considerably less to prevent a cyber attack than to mitigate the damages that follow. But what can be done to lower the risks of cybercrime?
- Investing in security awareness and phishing simulation trainings;
- Training employees to better identify cyber threats;
- Implementing security policies and ensuring employees’ adherence;
- Enforcing a strict password management system;
- Securing access to sensitive information;
- Building a culture of cybersecurity to ensure employees feel accountable and secure.
By using a security awareness platform like the one provided by Symbol Security, you can deliver effective user awareness training for employees and reduce cyber risks up to 90%.
Why not promote Cyber Security Awareness all year-round?
To address the continued challenges in successful market adoption of Security Awareness Training, Symbol Security launched Symbol-U and Symbol-ATP that allow businesses of all sizes to conduct training all year and stay safe. Additionally, most Security Awareness services are price irrespective of usage…so you can really get your money’s worth the more you use it!
- Symbol-U is an innovative proprietary Learning Management System (LMS) built for distribution that allows users of Symbol to access their curriculum and learning activities easily.
- Symbol-ATP is an automated, preconfigured training program, built on top of Symbol U.
“With cyber-attacks becoming more sophisticated, CyberSecurity Awareness should be on our business agenda all year round, not only in October (National Security Awareness Month) when everyone is talking about this topic. The launch of Symbol-U and Symbol-ATP is a new step towards making the Security Training Awareness simple and effective. One of the best things with these new tools is that you can finally forget about the hassle of on-site training, your employees will be able to access the learning platform anytime, and you will receive regular reports on their performance. Security Awareness Training has never been easier!”
Symbol Security President and Co-Founder Craig Sandman
By using the new tools – Symbol-U and Symbol-ATP – provided by Symbol Security, you can conduct extensive training sessions for employees and reduce the cyber risks up to 90%. The time for action is before you get phished…because after it happens, it may be too late! Want to find out more about Symbol? Contact us for a free demo.
