I have been working in cyber security alongside Bharat Bhise HNA for just over a year now and Bharat has taught me far more than I ever imagined during my time with him. Something which Bharat is brilliant at is describing to our customers the risks which are posed by a cyber attack. Many business owners believe that this just won’t happen to them, but the way that Bharat describes the consequences of a cyber attack is usually enough to convince them. I may not have the gusto or grasp of drama that Bharat possesses, but if you own a business and you are in any doubt as to what the ramifications of a cyber attack could be, here is what it may very well look like.
Reputation Obliterated
One of the most common things which Bharat and I see with companies who have suffered a severe attack is that the business’ reputation can be completely destroyed. I have seen companies who have spent days on the phone to their customers to inform them that their sensitive information has been stolen because of a cyber attack, as you can imagine these phone calls are not enjoyable. The customers who entrusted their information to a company will never return to the company which failed to protect them and it is also likely that they’ll tell people near and far about the terrible incident which happened at the hands of a certain company.
Lost Time, Repairing Systems
In some cases a cyber attack can render an entire system useless and before it goes live again it has to be cleaned of any viruses or coding which has been left, and this will of course come at a cost of both time and money. For many companies the days after an attack can be difficult, systems won’t work how they should, key information may have been lost and staff can grow extremely frustrated at not being able to carry out their job. It isn’t just the cost of the repair and the restart, but also the wasted operational costs of running the business at a tenth of the pace that it should be operating at.
Strategies
It isn’t just the customer’s sensitive information which you should be worried about but also any long term strategies for your business, which could now be in the hands of just about anyone. Would you want your competitors to get hold of this information? After an attack you have to go through your information and see exactly what has been obtained, and just how that may affect you. The damage limitation which is required after an attack is huge and once again it will eat up a huge amount of your time.
The fact of the matter is that these attacks happen every day, we usually don’t know who is carrying them out or what their plan is for the information which they have found. To prevent all of this, simply ensure that you invest in cyber security for your business.
