Warren Buffet, American investor and philanthropist, stated the following phrase: "It takes years to build a reputation and seconds to destroy it", certainly the expression rings true in information security.
Although Warren Buffet was not referring to information security, the reality is that the loss of customer confidence, which usually stems from breaches or cyber attacks, can completely compromise an organisation. Today, this critical scenario is even more likely as a result of the strong digital economy we are experiencing.
Organisations are now required to have an online presence for the purpose of growing the brand, increasing reach and overall exposure, or face the possibility of being left out of the market for not doing so.
While this can be incredibly exciting from the perspective of brand, marketing and business leadership teams, it presents a new kind of security challenge for information security professionals - who must create defence against any threats, whether they come from social media or the technology architecture used to support the company's business operations.
The reality is that being online today exposes businesses to new threats on a daily basis - and those responsible for protecting the organisation must react with greater speed and skill to stay ahead of the game.
Key impacts of cyber-attacks on brand due to a neglected security architecture
Brand damage occurs when customer trust is lost or the brand image is tarnished. This outcome can be driven traditionally by counterfeit products, negative advertising and, more significantly, as a result of the digital economy, by security breaches in a neglected IT environment.
Attacks on brands have tangible impacts on both the organisation and the individual. Here are the top three:
- Loss of customer confidence
It is estimated that for global brands, a lack of trust can cost up to $2.5 trillion a year. The impact directly affects a company's reputation - and that counts for everything in the digital economy.
Trust can be made up of several factors - such as customer service, reliability, vision, security and data protection.
In terms of cybersecurity, a breach can significantly affect how customers perceive a brand - and as a result, consumers may choose to look elsewhere for more secure and viable options. In practice, consumers make drastic changes to the way they interact with a brand following a security breach.
- Financial Loss
In addition to customer trust, brand attacks can result in direct financial loss - to the customer and the organisation. It is estimated that commercial email compromise attacks, for example, commonly identified as a scam to induce organizations to illegitimately transfer funds, cost $1.86 billion in 2020, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) Internet Crime Report 2020 - and that's just commercial email compromise.
- Competitive Disadvantage
Two of the above mentioned points can directly impact a company's performance - and depending on the competitiveness of the industry - such factors can stifle competitiveness in the market.
Consumers aren't just concerned about the veracity of a brand's communications, they're worried about the misuse of their data. Salesforce reports that more than half of consumers fear that their personal data is vulnerable to hackers and judge that companies don't operate with their best interests in mind.
Investing in a modern cybersecurity architecture reduces the risk your brand runs against cyber threats and crime
Whether you are aware of it or not, the digital world is becoming a more dangerous place for global and local businesses every year, as cybercriminals stand to gain a lot by accessing your data stores and obtaining confidential business and customer information.
Therefore, having a modern cybersecurity architecture is vital to ensure customer trust and brand continuity.
The main threats that modern businesses need to mitigate
While a cybersecurity architecture essentially protects your company from different types of risks, it also prepares you to deal with all types of threats by teaching you how to mitigate and deal with the consequences.
When it comes to the biggest threats modern businesses face today, the top 5 are as follows:
- Phishing attacks
- Malware
- Ransomware
- Weak passwords
- Internal threats
Cybercriminals will stop at nothing to achieve their goals. So you need to be ready to act accordingly to ensure your brand is safe and secure at all times. You can start ensuring brand safety and security by using the tips below aimed at modernising your company's cybersecurity architecture.
Understanding cyber security and its elements
The first step for a company is to fully understand what cyber security involves.
It is essential that key brand decision makers understand the elements of cybersecurity and what they mean to the organization. These elements include application security, information security, network, disaster protection, end user compliance.
A proper understanding of how they affect the organisation can be very helpful.
Understand the threats to cyber security
To make the most of cybersecurity to protect critical information, businesses need to understand the extent of the threats they may be exposed to.
The use of various digital devices for day-to-day operations exposes them to cyber threats and attacks from malicious technology users. Many hackers are highly skilled and are always working on ways to exploit weaknesses in IT infrastructure and networks.
Evaluate cyber security solutions
There are a number of managed cyber security solutions available to businesses. It is very important that those who have responsibility for using cyber security and protecting critical information evaluate the solutions available to assess how reliable they are. They need to be in tune with threat intelligence, which can be tactical, contextual or automated.
Having a modern, integrated Business Intelligence system
Another important step a brand must take to protect critical business information is to invest significantly in effective business intelligence systems.
These systems are also expected to be shared on potential cyber threats across multiple departments. When there is an extended network of connected devices, cyber security is enhanced.
Actionable intelligence should be accompanied by robust security solutions for optimal data protection. A reputable cyber solutions provider can help your company set up the ideal business intelligence system.
Develop a strategy and implement employee training
The technical aspect of cyber security should be left in the hands of experts, but full implementation for the protection of business critical information involves everyone.
It is important that employees are properly trained on time and with care. Cyber security policies should also be developed and implemented to ensure the security of company data.
Your brand represents your business and is your company's online ID. Hackers and cybercriminals will try to infringe upon it; the good news is that you can stop them in their efforts and mitigate the damage before it escalates beyond repair.
If you really want to showcase your brand as an authority in your niche business, industry and market, you will need to work on your brand protection solution and research how to keep your company protected, safe and secure at all times.