When you think of smart investments, you may think of real estate, stocks or the latest tech startups. But there is a different kind of investment that pays both in the short data-centric strategies driving success and long term: cybersecurity. This vital investment safeguards businesses from costly cyberattacks as well as can help them avoid costly penalties and losing trust from customers.
As digital transformation transforms the business processes of businesses, they produce, manipulate and store an ever-growing amount of data. The data has to be controlled across complex computing environments. These environments are regularly spanning cloud as well as enterprise data centers and many connected devices including Internet of Things sensors and robots. This increased complexity results in an increased attack surface, making important information more susceptible to compromise and loss.
Apart from the financial burdens Data breaches can also harm a company’s reputation and cause long-term losses in sales. Recent research has revealed that the average cost of a data breach was $4 million. This is an enormous impact on any business. Regulations like the California Consumer Privacy Act or the General Data Protection Regulation also punish companies with severe penalties who fail to adhere to the strict standards for security.
In today’s world of competitiveness having a solid cybersecurity strategy is crucial to gaining traction. A preventative pound is worth a pound of cure, and it’s far more efficient to invest in preventative measures than the cost of cleaning up and recovering after an incident. Utilizing the appropriate tools and technologies, companies can ensure that their data is secure while in transit, at rest and in the middle. This includes installing encryption, focusing the human firewall, and conducting regular deep-checks.
