As per one of the recent researches by a prominent consulting practice, cyberattacks have increased significantly across the world and have impacted business operations in the form of direct financial losses, operational downtime and loss in perceived trust and credibility.

Understanding Cyber Security:

To lay it out simply cybersecurity is a comprehensive solution that involves technology, practices & safety measures employed together to mitigate & protect against cyber threats that include phishing, malware, ransomware & other type of cyberattacks.

Why is CyberSecurity the need of the hour?

Here are some quick facts about the state of cybersecurity across the globe:

• In 2023 almost 2,365 cyberattacks took place
• This was a 72% increase in data breaches since 2021
• On an average a single data breach cost approx $4.48mn in 2024
• Business email based attacks reports over $2.9 bn losses in 2023
• 94% of organizations reported security incidents through emails.

This makes it pretty evident the seriousness of the matter at hand specifically when it is an established fact that SME organizations are relatively more vulnerable compared to larger businesses as they look at cybersecurity as an additional cost and not as investment that will help them ensure business continuity in the wake of such attacks.

How do these attacks affect Businesses? 

• Data Breaches: you may end up losing confidential and private data of your clients or proprietary data that is central to your business and is basically your intellectual property
• Operations Downtime: Some of the attacks like a DDoS or a ransomware attack might cause a significant amount of business operations downtime resulting in opportunity costs and a loss of trust amongst your clients.
• Financial Losses: Most hacker groups usually want a ransom to release the control of systems back to the organization, this results in direct financial losses.
• Loss of public confidence in the brand: This is one of the biggest costs that almost all the organization dread, that is loss of trust of the clients in the brand directly as a result of these cyberattacks.

To prepare yourself better it is quintessential to understand the threats you would face and how exactly they damage your business operations and affect your topline.

Understanding some of the most common kinds of Cyber Security Attacks:

• Phishing: 
  It refers to use of  text messages, emails, to basically manipulate the recepients in downloading some sort of malware or divulge sensitive information, which might be financial or personal in nature. Phishing is again sub classified into different types based on the underlying media used for example, voice messages, emails, messages, target recipient etc.
  You might be surprised to know that even the biggest of cyber attacks on even large organizations start with a simple phishing email that aims at gathering more intel and add to the bigger convoluted plans of the threat actors. 

        Tip* - Make it a point to educate your employees and help them in understanding that they shouldnt click on any external links from the                    emails senders they do not trust.

• Malware attacks:
  This is where your systems get hit by a malware or a ransomware that aims at suspending your operations or perform a data breach on the database that is central to your business operations. Quick Fact: At any given point of time almost 4.1 mn sites are affected with malware.

• Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack:
  A DDoS attack is where the threat actor starts to flood the target system, network or website by using multiple devices. This tactic basically disables the ability of your systems to service actual requests and thus causes downtime in business operations directly impacting your topline.
  Quick Fact: DDoS website that offer this rose almost by 20% in 2023 itself, reflecting that number of attacks increased and are set to increase in time to come as well.

• Personal Data Breaches:
  Dut to vast amount of digital information lying around in distributed systems and the digital breadcrumbs that interconnect them, it has become far easier to sniff out anyone’s information which is publicly available that ultimately leads to identity thefts and other frauds. In 2023 almost 346 mn people were victim of data breach and also among the reports received by Consumer Sentinel Network almost 2.6 mn reports were of online fraud.

       You’d be surprised to know that the United States has the largest cost for average data breach across the world at  $9.36 mn.

       Now idea is not to get scared and panic, it is to better equip ourselves by understanding, recognizing the threat its nature, potential impact,             and associated opportunity costs and accordingly plan a proactive cyber security strategy that aims at mitigating any such future threats,                 ensuring business continuity, complete peace of mind and avoid any potential financial losses.

       Navigating the world of CyberSecurity Solutions can be a bit overwhelming and it might appear to be pretty expensive as well whereas it’s               not. There is never a one key fits all locks approach when it comes to CyberSecurity Solutions. Your business needs are unique so it only                   makes sense to discuss, conceive and implement a cybersecurity strategy that works for your current needs and is agile enough to scale with         your business operations. 

      At RITC CyberSecurity we make it a point to go that extra mile in understanding your specific needs and coming up with a bespoke                                CyberSecurity plan that works for you without burning a hole in your pocket.