The True ROI of Cybersecurity

Today, many employees face the uncomfortable situation of explaining to the business' C‑suite why cybersecurity defense costs keep rising even though they see no reflected benefits for their company. It can be challenging to see the ROI benefit from a good defense. The loss of labor or product can be difficult to see when breaches occur. Suppose a hostile actor changes the passwords on client accounts, for example. In that case, the cost of having customer support help the affected customers is not often seen as a direct monetary loss, but it is due to the labor costs consumed.  

When trying to justify investing in cybersecurity, you must look for metrics that management will be interested in. If you can show how much money you are protecting with your cyber defense, asking for your slice of the budget will become much easier. Let's look at some of the immediate costs that attacks can cause for your business, as well as long-term expenses that might not be apparent.  

Immediate Loss From Cyberattack

These are the big numbers that are easier to generate. You may find much utility in using an example from a competitor or industry leader. The following list includes some examples of immediate losses:

• A ransomware attack locks down all systems and data until the ransom is paid. This can mean lost revenue, missed deadlines, and downtime. In addition, there could be legal ramifications if sensitive information is stolen.

• A malicious insider compromises a server and steals credit card data. This can result in fraud charges and fines.

• A hacker gains access to a database containing personal information and uses it for identity theft.

• A hacker manipulates your inventory to look like you are out of stock on an item when you aren't. Lost revenue like this can be hard to quantify and is easy to miss.

Long-Term Loss From Cyberattack

The following list contains some examples of long-term costs that can take time to measure. They include reputation damage, brand erosion, and regulatory compliance issues. These are harder to quantify and should be considered when deciding where to allocate your resources.

• Your company loses credibility due to a breach of privacy or security.

• Your company suffers reputational damage by being associated with a hack. How your company handles the fallout from the incident will also be substantial.

• Your company faces fines or penalties for failing to comply with regulations, making you look irresponsible or uncaring to consumers.

• An employee account is compromised and used to send out spam emails. These can lead to reputation damage, fines, and other penalties.

Aftermath of a Cyberattack

The consequences of these attacks can be far-reaching. Rebuilding security and trust is a long process, one made more difficult because your organization often continues to pay for its repair years after the initial incident.  

• Your company spends time and money training staff on new policies and procedures.

• Your company incurs legal fees to deal with a lawsuit related to a hack.

• Your company pays for an audit of its IT infrastructure.

• Any executives that oversaw a breach of security may be held responsible and face additional measures

Stop Cyberattacks before they happen with iTecs

In the event of a compromise, you may find your company dealing with several points from each list with just one cyberattack. Cyberattacks are not just expensive but also have many stages where the cost can become greater depending on how the threat is dealt with.

Rather than deal with the costly and embarrassing consequences of a data breach, enlist iTecs as your cybersecurity provider.  

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