Cyber attacks and Data breaches are pretty common these days. In the first half of 2022, businesses lost an average of $4.35 million. At the same time, there were around 236.1 million ransomware attacks, which are ever-increasing in 2023.
Once any cyber attack or data breach gets the hold of your company, the damage is always irreversible. These attacks can cause a ripple effect of detrimental outcomes on your business. Let's take a look at how companies suffer from these attacks.
Financial Loss
When a cyber-attack occurs, the initial and most serious impact is on your finances. Hackers or cyber criminals are intelligent and can get away with stealing your money. They may get their hands on your customers' details like their bank account or credit card information. This type of loss isn't small; it can quickly spiral out of control only to become unbelievably massive.
Is this where the financial trouble ends? No! The next step is recovering from a cyber attack that involves a lot of work and money.
Eventually, you will need cyber security experts to figure out how the attack happened and how to prevent it in the future. These experts are costly. On top of that, there is a legal fee, which means more expenses even after suffering a financial loss. Plus, there is accountability from customers.
Solution - Prevention is better than cure. Make sure you have the system for data backup and use strong VPN encryption to avoid data compromise in the first place.
Reputation Damage
Another adverse effect of a successful cyber attack on a business is damaging its reputation. Customers lose their trust once a hacker gets hold of sensitive data. Nobody comes back to the place where they are not secure enough.
Plus, the media coverage can mess up a business's reputation even more, leading to people protesting against the company and even boycotting it for the rest of their lives.
We can take the example of Facebook, where more than $119bn has been wiped off Facebook's market value after the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
Solution - Password managers, strong firewalls, and Wi-Fi security can help you preserve your reputation and prevent cyber attacks.
Legal Consequences
When you run a business, it's your job to protect the data of all your customers and staff. There is no such thing as getting away with data compromise in this situation.
If a cyber attack leads to a data breach wherein customer or employee data is compromised, the company might face legal action due to inadequate data protection. Additionally, privacy regulations such as GDPR or CCPA often require companies to safeguard personal data, and non-compliance can result in legal consequences or fines.
Data Breaches can also comprise contractual obligations with partners, customers, or vendors, leading to legal conflicts. There can be lawsuits and penalties following a cyber attack on a company.
Solution - Artificial intelligence is the best answer to prevent the legal consequences of Cyber Attacks. AI does not rest and keeps monitoring the data that is viable in today's world.
Operational Paralysis and Decreased Market Value
Following the cyber attack, the operational disruption begins. As companies get busy tackling the issue, the normal functioning of the business is compromised. Orders are delayed, productivity is decreased, and revenue is lost.
Also, almost every business has a unique secret differentiating it from the rest. Because of the cyber attack, these trade secrets are compromised, and the uniqueness of the business is lost.
Solution - Data protection is the Ultimate weapon you can use to prevent the breach in the first place. If you are smart, you can prevent a cyber attack simply with the help of a dedicated IP address.
Long-Term Repercussions and the Disruption of Supply Chain
A successful business can only flourish with suppliers, trustworthy partners and vendors. If the Cyberattack somehow managed to steal the data of any of your suppliers, you'll lose a lot of money and customers due to supply chain disruption.
Even when a lot of time has passed after the cyber attack, the aftereffects stay intact. Most still don't trust Facebook because it made public 553 million users.
Following a cyber attack, your previous customers may never return to you, and new ones become conscious of never trusting you. Your potential partners who were once by your side may leave you for good, and this negative reputation may stop the new partners from collaborating with you.
Even the investors won't feel like being involved in your business because of the fear of loss due to another security breach. All this signifies the importance of data protection.
Solution - Do everything that you can, from using the VPN to using artificial intelligence to prevent the loss of data in the first place
Bottom Line
A cyber attack is a nightmare for anyone who holds an online platform of any kind, and it's especially a recurring nightmare for businesses. It's because they have a lot of sensitive data to protect, and attackers always try to find vulnerable spots.
As a business, ensure adequate security measures and rely on trustworthy and effective VPNs to encrypt your data.
