Cyber threats and online attacks against individuals, businesses, and brands of all sizes continue to happen on a daily basis. While the business of ‘cyber protection’ is booming, it’s also one that doesn’t get to rest. With new attacks happening all the time, and more companies losing access to billions of individual data records, this is becoming more worrisome as new stories come out time and time again.
Just recently it was reported that Uber was not only hacked and lost the data records (personal information, licenses, and more) on millions of drivers within the company, but they also tried to cover it up and paid off the hackers in the process. This is just a simple reminder of how important it actually is to not only protect your personal data but that of your business and it’s customers and clients as well.
To help better understand just how crazy the world of data protection and online hacking is today, let’s take a look at some of the top cyber risks in the world today. All of the information below is provided by CPA insurance company, which has created their own business model of helping CPA’s better protect their customer data, while also attempting to eliminate any current risks or vulnerabilities that might be present.
Let’s take a look at some of these numbers and why they are so important to not only online businesses, but also the customers and clients of such services as well.
$12.1 Million
The cost of a data breach isn’t cheap — especially after you factor in any legal actions, PR disasters or fines that might come as a result of it. While most large scale businesses or brands can deal with these fines, it can wipe smaller players right out of business. The average cost of a data breach in the financial services sector was over $12 million in 2016.
#1
Of all the different types of businesses and services on the internet today, the #1 industry and business type that is attacked the most, is financial services. This is kind of obvious, as it’s going to provide the most valuable data to hackers, while also giving them the biggest bang for the buck. Anytime a huge data breach happens with a major financial institution, it’s usually affecting hundreds of millions of records.
1-in-5
When conducting any type of business or service on the internet, there is more to protecting your customer and client information than you think. For example, businesses and brands are also using payment processors, web hosting solutions, data and cloud storage, email and mailing list hosting… and more. All of these are potential targets for hackings and cyber attacks, while also giving access to your personal and business information. One in five financial institutions is currently using an email service provider that is vulnerable to cyber attacks. When trying to protect your business and brand against potential attacks, don’t just look at your own programs and operations, but also those you are working with.
40%
As more people are using the internet on a daily basis, there just continues to be more avenues for hackers and bots to access personal information. With the massive growth of the internet and data being easily shared and accessible on all platforms, we are seeing data breaches continue to climb as well. The most recent numbers come in a 40% year-over-year increase during 2016. Imagine what these numbers are going to look like as we moving into 2018 and 2019. It’s these extra added levels of security, such as two-step authorization that will help to protect user information, while also keeping businesses and brands safe.
43%
When looking at all of the cyberattacks on the internet today, many are going after individuals and their internet passwords, but the real attacks and money are in going after small businesses. It’s reported that 43% of cyber attacks are targeted against small businesses because they’re viewed as vulnerable. Many online businesses and brands know how to market and promote their business, but not many of them have the protections in place to keep their client and customer information safe.
How to Best Protect Your Data and Business in 2018 and Beyond
If you want to grow a successful business or service these days, you need to have the trust of your customers that everything is going to stay safe with their information. While there are many services out there to make sure data monitoring and security is in place, you must have the necessary tools and services in place to adapt to new technology and advancements in cyber attacks.
Stay up to take on the latest trends, vulnerabilities, and what’s working for other data management and protection companies. This will not only keep your business and customer information safe, it will also improve the trust factor for you and your clients and customers as well.
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