Because we live in the digital age, cybersecurity is one of the major threats that businesses face. More than ever before, organizations have to contend with hackers and criminals. Hackers steal information or halt the operation of a business. 

It can lead the company to face severe financial losses. In addition to this, companies have to deal with a bad image and poor press. Many companies have been driven out of business in the aftermath of a cyberattack. Through no fault of their own, businesses suffer due to a cyberattack.

Cybersecurity attacks in the past few years

Theft of data is one of the purposes of a cyberattack. If customer data is stolen, it can reflect poorly on a company.

In the past few years, cyberattacks have become quite common. The following is a small list of companies that faced cyberattacks in recent years.

Channel Nine

An Australian channel faced a cyberattack in March 2021. Because of this, the news channel could not hold its Sunday news and other programs. According to Channel Nine, the attack was the largest in scale directed at a media company.

Experian

Experian is a credit reporting agency that suffered a cyberattack (ransomware) in August 2020. As a result, about 24 million customers in South Africa were affected. The attack also affected the operations of about 793,000 other businesses. A hacker, pretending to be a customer, stole the data. 

World Health Organization

Even the WHO was not spared from a cyberattack. During the COVID-19 pandemic, hackers caused a data breach involving 25,000 emails and their passwords. The attack occurred in April 2020. The WHO reported that since the start of the pandemic, it saw a fivefold increase in cyberattacks targeting its staff. Hackers were using phishing techniques and posing as WHO personnel. 

Dubsmash

Dubsmash suffered a severe cyberattack that resulted in a data breach of more than 162 million users. The data stolen included email addresses, passwords, dates of birth, and usernames. The cyberattack occurred in December 2018. Such a scale of cyberattacks is detrimental to a company’s integrity and customer relationship. 

Benefits of investing in cybersecurity

Looking at the above cyberattack should provide you some perspective when it comes to investing in cybersecurity. A compromise assessment is often the first step in assessing the strength of a company about cybersecurity. Such an assessment determines vulnerabilities in devices, networks, databases, etc. It also helps in locating the presence of existing malware and viruses already on systems.

Third-party companies offer compromise assessment and other services to help a company improve its cybersecurity operations. 

Here are a few benefits of investing in cybersecurity:

Protects a business

Hackers are constantly looking out for businesses that have vulnerabilities in their systems. With a cybersecurity solution in place, businesses are protected and can continue their operations without fear of hackers. It also ensures that a company can operate efficiently and provide services to its customers. 

Protects company and customer data

By implementing a cybersecurity solution, the data of the company and its customers is protected from hackers. Hackers use ransomware to steal private and personal information. If the company does not pay the ransom amount, the hackers sell the information to others. With cybersecurity, businesses can prevent this from happening. 

Worker safety

Cyberattacks often steal information from employees. With cybersecurity, businesses can prevent this from happening and ensure that the personal data of their employees is safe from prying eyes.

Ensures operations 

Often with a cyberattack, a company has to halt its operations. Websites and servers often go down as a result of a cyberattack. 

Conclusion

These are some benefits of hiring a third-party company for cybersecurity solutions. It protects businesses in the long run.