Here's a quick condensed overview, which you can use as bullet points in your 2016 budget discussion.
Today, successful data breaches happen on a daily basis. The frequency of the attacks is increasing fast and those who attack are getting more sophisticated. Cyber-attacks have undergone substantial changes and are increasingly difficult to counteract as the attackers’ technology advances.
Everyone’s a target – government and large corporate websites are no longer the only focus. Medium size corporations, small businesses and individuals are all potential victims. That you will be attacked is a given – but what makes the difference is your security posture, how good your defense-in-depth is, and your Incident Response after the hack.
Here are the Top 5 reasons to invest in cyber security
1) Frequency of attacks
Industry leaders like Symantec, McAfee, Fire Eye, and Verizon all report increases in attack frequency over the last 8 quarters. You simply get probed for vulnerabilities more often, by more sophisticated means and attack vectors. One example is the recent use of Exploit Kits combined with malvertising on major news outlets. One click on a poisoned ad is enough, or even simply browsing to an infected page can kick off a drive-by-download.
2) Cost of attacks
The direct cost of an attack, the downtime it causes, the damage to the PR of your organization, loss of business opportunity, the legal fees, and possibly the loss of your CEO who gets fired by the Board (Target).
3) Cybercrime focuses on Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) as attack targets
Hacked SME's may feel like they’ve had bad luck, or that the bad guys have handpicked them. The reality is that attackers use both automated software that probes websites for vulnerabilities and flaws that are easily breached, and thoroughly tested, massive phishing campaigns to spread botnets, Trojans and Ransomware.
It is rare that the bad guys are targeting your company specifically, but it’s your responsibility if your organization is vulnerable enough to be a soft target.
4) The number of bad actors is expanding rapidly
Dozens of Nation States are investing Billions in their cyberwar attack capabilities. Don't think that's only focused on power and water infrastructure. They go after whole sectors of the economy, and that means degrading individual organizations running stock markets, financials, insurance, manufacturing and more.
Next, cybercrime-as-a-service is taking off – it is easier than ever for beginning cyber criminals to get started with sophisticated tools that are provided by a fast growing cyber-underground economy. Existing mafias are moving into this area with rapid speed and the criminal competition is furious.
5) Bad guys are going after the low-hanging fruit: your employees
Cyber criminals are business people too. Their time is money. Why spend 3 weeks to uncover a vulnerability in a popular piece of software when you can social engineer an employee in 10 seconds? Stepping employees through effective Security Awareness Training is one of the easiest steps to take with fast, measurable, and excellent ROI.
Find out how affordable this is for your organization and be pleasantly surprised:
