Determining the Real Cost of Cybersecurity

With the recent start of a new year, businesses worldwide are working to determine their budgets. These new budgets will consider the many facets of companies, including, but not limited to, the cost of operations and marketing. For many organizations, this is the time of year to determine what to prioritize for the coming months. What often fails to be prioritized is the cost of keeping the business secure from outside cyber threats. Many business owners do not understand the level of damage that these threats can cause and do not prioritize cybersecurity within their budgets.

We at Interlink Group are here to tell you that this needs to change. A cyberattack can cripple or even sink a business due to the real costs to repair the damage, both fiscally and to your company’s image, that can be done. At this point, can you say that you feel confident that if a cyberattack does happen, you will be able to come out somewhat unscathed? If the answer to that is no, continue reading on to see why you need to be there and how you can get to that point.

The Importance of Business Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity affects all businesses, from large to small. According to mdsny.com, “about half of all cyberattacks target small businesses, and 68% of small businesses have experienced a cyberattack in the last 12 months”. These statistics show that regardless of whether you think your business is a target or not, hackers are looking at you as a target. The only goal of an unethical hacker is to make monetary gain. Regardless of where that stream of revenue is coming from, hackers will exploit it. Because of this, all businesses should guarantee a prime place for cybersecurity within their budget.

What do Cyberattacks Actually Cost Businesses?

One of the most impactful and apparent effects of a cyberattack is the monetary loss that can be suffered. According to cnbc.com,

“The consequences of cyberattacks continue to grow, with digital incidents now costing businesses of all sizes $200,000 on average, according to insurance carrier Hiscox. Sixty percent go out of business within six months of being victimized.”

These dollar figures are often frightening. Still, it doesn’t always push industry leaders to take cybersecurity as seriously as they should. When leaders can finally see the “real impact” of these attacks, it most often prompts them to take serious steps to better protect their companies. This is due to the real impact broadening out beyond purely monetary losses. The real impact includes,

• Regulatory Fines
• Legal Fees
• Identity Theft Repair
• Rising Insurance Premiums
• Business Disruption
• Loss of Customers
• Damage to Company Credibility

Clearly, these threats can cripple or even sink businesses, regardless of size. Taking the proper steps before a breach occurs is the only way to be prepared in the event of an attack.

How to Budget for Proper Cybersecurity

There is no one-size-fits-all model for businesses when it comes to cybersecurity. There are a host of factors that go into proper cybersecurity budgeting for your specific business. These factors include the following:

• The industry that you are in
• The size of your organization
• Regulations that your business must comply with
• The sensitivity of your data
  • Both internally or collected from customers
• Requests from stakeholders or customers

 

By looking at these factors, a company can work to determine how much of its budget needs to go towards cybersecurity. Mdsny.com provides the following for estimates on how much organizations are budgeting towards their digital security,

“Estimates of what companies currently pay vary, ranging from an additional 5.6% to up to 20% of the company’s total IT spend. For example, say a 40-person company pays $3,000 per month to an IT managed service provider to cover their IT needs. Their cybersecurity budget would come in somewhere between $168 and $600 per month – a significant but not unattainable amount – and well worth it given the potential cost of a cyberattack.”

These numbers may be difficult for some companies to grapple with, especially when they want to devote these funds to something that directly brings in revenue. The critical thing to remember here is that these funds don’t have to be spent at once. An incremental step to your businesses’ cybersecurity is much better than no actions taken at all. By working with a cybersecurity provider who can deliver a security audit, such as Interlink Group, you can learn about areas of high priority that may be specific to your business. This can help with your budgeting and plan of attack for the coming year.

Cybersecurity for businesses is nothing new. IT organizations worldwide have been working for years to provide the level of protection needed by businesses. Unfortunately, more often than not, cybersecurity is treated as a “nice-to-have” by business leaders. This philosophy has to change. By seeing cybersecurity as the threat that it really is, leaders can adequately budget for the cybersecurity measures they need to stay safe. To receive an informational cybersecurity pdf about cybersecurity and what Interlink Group can do to help, fill out our form.