Internal cybersecurity threats can take place intentionally or unintentionally. In the case of the former, malicious actors, such as former or disgruntled employees, may wish to cause harm to the organization by stealing or damaging the company’s intellectual property.
On the other hand, unintentional threats stem from human error, when employees may carelessly share their credentials, click on malicious links, or leave their systems unprotected.
Internal threats are particularly worrying, as they involve individuals with access to critical organizational data and are trusted with it. All businesses are susceptible to these kinds of threats, especially those that deal with sensitive or valuable data related to finances and healthcare, among others.
Therefore, it is extremely advantageous to invest in cybersecurity measures to reduce the threat of internal actors exploiting vulnerabilities. Let’s discuss all how you can benefit from cybersecurity for internal threats.
Benefits of Investing In Cybersecurity
Companies can benefit significantly from investing in cybersecurity measures. According to a prediction by Cybersecurity Ventures, it is believed that by 2031, ransomware damages would exceed $265 billion annually. Moreover, it is also predicted that ransomware attacks will be carried out every two seconds. Considering this number, investment in cybersecurity is a priceless ordeal. Therefore, organizations need to strengthen their security posture.
The major advantages businesses can reap by investing in cybersecurity include:
- Meeting compliance and regulatory requirements: Cybersecurity experts can help you meet all the regulatory requirements in your state or country.
- Identifying and addressing cybersecurity vulnerabilities: With data security tools, your organization can identify all the weaknesses in your current system or network. Using this information, an action plan can be created to strengthen all areas of weaknesses.
- Protecting confidential and sensitive data: You can safeguard all confidential data using state-of-the-art tools and software. This can help build customer trust.
- Reducing human error: Cybersecurity initiatives, such as providing tools, limiting access, and using 2-factor authentication, minimize the chances of data breaches caused by human errors.
- Improving incident response: You can establish a quick and effective incident response system to ensure there is minimum downtime in the unfortunate case of a data breach.
- Protecting brand reputation: Customers trust businesses that prioritize security. With a robust security system, you can protect your brand reputation and build customer loyalty.
- Saving costs: Online security is an investment that pays off. With a proactive approach, you can save thousands of dollars in data recovery.
Furthermore, when organizations implement security awareness training and controls, they can enhance their protection against both internal and external threats, thereby minimizing the damage incurred due to a data breach. Because of this, companies can save money spent on legal fees and data recovery.
Moreover, organizations that invest in cybersecurity gain a competitive advantage, as they are seen in the market to be committed to the defense and security of business partners, regulatory bodies, and customers’ sensitive data.
Cybersecurity Protocols and Tools Improve Business Productivity
When an organization undergoes a cyberattack of any kind, its productivity is highly impacted. In 2022, on average, businesses dealt with a downtime of a whopping 22 days due to ransomware attacks.
Investing in cybersecurity allows you to avoid downtime, streamline your process, and automate security procedures. With increased security, collaboration can take place on a wider level, helping improve customer experience. This will lead to enhanced business productivity in the long run.
Cybersecurity Solidifies Customer Trust and Confidence
When customers are assured that you have cybersecurity measures set in place, they will trust your business more. You can also promote transparency in your data security protocols and communicate with clients, so they have full confidence that you are adequately protecting their confidential information.
Cybersecurity Boosts Compliance
GDPR noncompliance is a real issue for organizations. In Q1 and Q2 of 2022, penalties increased by 92% compared to the year prior. Therefore, by investing in cybersecurity, you can enhance incident response, thereby meeting regulatory requirements. Furthermore, you can show evidence of your compliance with cybersecurity regulations to relevant authorities and avoid fines.
Cybersecurity Protects Important Information
Human error is one of the primary causes of internal data breaches. Therefore, when you invest in cybersecurity, internal threats are reduced as you can establish barriers that protect sensitive information. This is done in several ways, such as implementing access controls, protecting data in transit and at rest, and continuously conducting data monitoring and governance.
Cybersecurity Helps You Gain Insights
By investing in cybersecurity solutions, organizations can automate most processes securely. Through this, you can utilize and combine automated cybersecurity tools with AI and machine learning to collect and analyze employee and consumer data.
Furthermore, you can get insights into threats occurring in real-time, which enables you to nip it in the bud rather at the moment, rather than waiting until the damage is done. With automation, the tools can automatically respond to the threat, helping you save time and effort.
Cybersecurity Protects the Bottom Line
Research shows that 32% of businesses victimized by ransomware end up paying hackers to recover their organizational data. Unfortunately, only 65% of these companies can retrieve data access. This can be unbelievably damaging for organizations that may never be able to cope with the loss.
Similarly, organizations that implement cybersecurity measures can benefit from better insurance premiums. This is because insurance companies consider these companies to be at a lesser risk of a cyberattack.
Lastly, data breaches also lead to downtime, where profits decrease monumentally. So, you must leverage cybersecurity to improve your bottom line, protect yourself from data breaches, reduce workflow interruptions, and save on costs.
Benefits of Creating a Culture Where Cybersecurity Is Prioritized
Investing in cybersecurity invariably leads to a rise in security awareness throughout the organization, and encourages employees to actively participate in prioritizing it. By incorporating security in all of your business processes, you can establish yourself as a security-forward business within the industry.
Moreover, when you instill the importance of cybersecurity adherence within your staff, they will be helping you ensure compliance is being maintained, and that incident response is quicker and more efficient.
A Secure Future
When you invest in cybersecurity, you are investing in your organization’s future security and success. By mitigating internal cybersecurity threats, you can reap several important benefits, such as the protection of sensitive organizational and consumer data, improving brand reputation, increasing trust with customers and stakeholders, and a lot more.