Hackers are causing more and more damage to businesses each year. Almost half of businesses (46%) report having cybersecurity breaches or attacks between 2019 and 2020. These attacks are showing no signs of slowing and if anything, are becoming more evolved and frequent.
Cybersecurity may be the kind of thing that many businesses brush under the rug and choose to ignore. It doesn’t bring in money or contribute to the business strategy, so there’s no time in the day to focus on it. That could be a huge mistake though, as cyberattacks can cost a business a lot of money if they are unlucky enough to be targeted.
Despite this, many small businesses still believe that it won’t happen to them. Unfortunately, multiple past studies have shown that at least 43% of cyberattacks are aimed at small businesses – and it’s arguably these businesses that it can affect the worst financially. Small businesses are often targeted because they commonly lack the support needed to protect against these attacks.
The average cost of a cyberattack on a small/micro business is £919, increasing to £3,070 for medium/large businesses. But where do these costs come from? Let’s take a look at some of the financial impacts a cyberattack can have on your business.
Revenue due to downtime
The cost of a cyberattack is not only financial. Your business is likely to need some time out to recover. If part of your IT infrastructure is down as a result, chances are it’s going to affect other parts of your business. This may disrupt your services and deliverables, hindering your business for a period of time.
Costs associated with managing exposed customer data
Data protection breaches and fines for non-compliance have become somewhat of a hot topic over the last few years, with the introduction of GDPR. The fines that come with exposing customer data are pretty substantial and can be an enormous blow to a company’s reputation. Companies have a responsibility to ensure that customer data is stored correctly and well protected. Measures such as multi-factor authentication are a good way to try and combat data breaches.
Loss of customer confidence in your company
Trust is a huge part of a customer relationship, and cyberattacks have the potential to wipe this trust out in the blink of an eye. A cyberattack can result in a loss of customers, a loss of sales and a reduction in your profits. It can have a ripple effect throughout the rest of your business, even affecting the relationship you have with your suppliers, partners, investors and other third parties.
Share price or market value drop
Perhaps you are worried about the impact on the share price of your company. This will almost certainly be affected by a cyberattack. In fact, share prices of breached companies hit a low point approximately 14 market days following a breach. Cyberattacks and data breaches can be a PR nightmare, sinking share and stock prices. This can take a while to build back up.
Business security is always worth your investment – whether that’s ensuring you have all the latest malware, training your team or implementing a range of cybersecurity protocols. You should also add investing in SaaS Escrow to your list. Whilst you can tighten up on your own security, if you rely on a third-party software provider to keep your business going, you can’t control how secure their operations are.
With SaaS Escrow, AccessAssure independently monitors your software provider’s financial position, triggering a cascade of events should anomalies rise, leaving your cloud-based software accessible for at least three months of business continuity. It offers you that peace of mind and an extra layer of security against any nasty surprises.
Got more questions? Just give us a call today on 0800 456 1115 to discuss further.
