Importance of cyber security: Benefits and Disadvantages

In the age of the internet, organizations are heavily relying on IT infrastructure to keep them safe from cyberattacks. As more and more organizations are adopting digital transformation, the risk of cybercrime is increasing at a rapid rate; so is the importance of cybersecurity.

Cybersecurity has become the knight in shining armour. Strong cybersecurity policy and infrastructure work together to secure computer systems and networks from an unauthorized attack or access. Businesses, individuals, and governments are investing heavily to reap the benefits of cybersecurity in protecting their assets and data against hackers. For any business to survive in today’s competitive world, it requires the right tools and cyber security strategy.

What does cyber security mean?

Cyber security is the practice of securing computer systems and networks against unauthorized access or being otherwise damaged or made inaccessible by mitigating information risks and vulnerabilities. Information risks include unauthorized access,  interception, use, disclosure, or data destruction. 

What is the purpose of cyber attacks?

The purpose of cyber attacks can be:  

Illegal or Unauthorized access to data: 

Through unauthorized access, hackers attempt to either delete or modify the data.   

Extortion: 

In exchange for money or ransom, hackers threaten the victim by illegally gaining access to their sensitive and private data.   

Hurt the Competition’s Business: 

Hackers steal trade secrets or other valuable information, such as Intellectual Properties that has significant value on the black market, to hurt a competitor’s business. Once these trade secrets are public, the company could lose its proprietary advantage, in turn affecting its profitability.   

Disrupt Business activity: 

Hackers often aim to disrupt the day-to-day operations of an organization.   

Damage reputation: 

Breaches lead to a loss of trust among an organization’s customer base.

The significance of cyber security in today’s digital age cannot be understated. A single security breach has severe consequences in today’s interconnected world, resulting in heavy financial losses and data loss, as well as hurting its reputation.

For instance, in 2017 Equifax breach exposed the personal identification information of over 145 million people. In 2018, the breach at Marriott leaked the personal information of over 500 million people.  

As our dependence on IT and technology grows, so do the volume and sophistication of cyberattacks. Cybersecurity helps to secure systems and networks against these threats.

Importance of cyber security

Cyber security is important because it safeguards individuals and organizations against cyber attacks and theft or loss of sensitive and confidential information. Cybersecurity can monitor systems to protect personal data (PII, PHI, financial details etc.), trade secrets, intellectual property and any sensitive government information.

Obtaining a cybersecurity certification can help you protect yourself against fraud and online assaults!

Here are the 11 key advantages of Cyber Security for business:

• Protects personal data
• Helps preserves reputation
• Enhances productivity
• Assists the remote workspace
• Regulation compliance
• Improves cyber posture
• Better data management
• Helps educate and train the workforce
• Helps maintain trust and credibility
• Streamline access control
• Supports the IT team

Protects personal data

For businesses or individual users, personal data is the most valuable commodity. Malware can collect personal information and may jeopardize employees, customers’ privacy, or organizations.

Cybersecurity protects data against internal as well external threats, whether accidental or with malicious intent helping employees access the internet as and when required without cyber attacks threats.

Helps preserves reputation

Customer retention and brand loyalty, for any organization, take years to build. Business reputation is damaged severely in case of data breaches. With a cyber security system in place, organizations can avoid sudden setbacks.

Technologies such as network security and cloud security can strengthen access and authentication. This can open the pathway to future recommendations, ventures, and expansions.

Enhances productivity

As technology evolves, cybercriminals are employing sophisticated ways to breach data.

Viruses negatively impact productivity by affecting networks, workflows, and functioning. The organization may come to a standstill due to the firm’s downtime. With measures such as automated backups and improved firewalls, firms can improve their productivity, making it one of the most promising cybersecurity benefits. 

Assists the remote workspace

The remote working model has led employees working from different locations to access multiple remote models for their workflows. It may be unsettling for organizations to circulate their sensitive data across the globe, where cybercrimes can occur through IoT, Wi-Fi, and personal devices.

It is substantial for businesses to protect sensitive data as remote work has led to an increase in the average data breach cost by $137,000.

Sensitive data, strategies, and analytics are always vulnerable to being hacked and leaked. However, cyber security serves as a secure centre to store data and can also protect home Wi-Fi from tracking users’ data. 

Regulation compliance

Regulatory bodies such as HIPAA, SOC, PCI DSS, and GDPR play a substantial role in protecting individual users and organizations. Failure to comply with these regulations attracts heavy penalties.

Improves cyber posture

Cybersecurity provides organizations with comprehensive digital protection giving employees flexibility,  liberty, and safety to access the internet.

Sophisticated cyber security technology tracks all systems in real-time on a single dashboard with one click. This strategy allows businesses to act and respond in the event of a cyber-attack with automation for smoother operations, strengthening cybersecurity protocols against threats.

Better data management

Data forms the crux of marketing and product strategies. Losing it to hackers or competitors may result in laying the groundwork from scratch, giving a competitive edge to other companies. 

Hence, to ensure that data security regulations are implemented perfectly, organizations must consistently monitor their data. In addition to security, cybersecurity assists in operational efficiency as well.

Helps educate and train the workforce

You can add a layer of safety to your organization’s daily operations by educating the workforce about potential risks such as ransomware, data breaches, spyware, and more.

The employees will be less vulnerable to phishing attacks and know the right course of action in case anything goes wrong.

Helps maintain trust and credibility

Cyber security helps lay the foundation of trust and credibility amongst customers and investors. Breaches impact the reputation of an organization resulting in a dwindling audience base drastically. In contrast, the customer base increases when the organization has a history of safeguarding business and customer data. 

Streamline access control

Organizations feel under control of all the tasks by controlling the internal and external processes.

Companies can focus on other meaningful tasks enabling them to establish accountability for strategic management. Access to systems,  computers, and resources is streamlined, hence reducing cybercrime threats. 

Supports the IT team

Cyber-attacks attract fines from regulators and customers’ claims, resulting in low sales and revenue, affecting crucial aspects of continuity. Additionally, cybercrimes can halt daily operations. 

With the advancement of technology, sophisticated hacking practices have evolved. The IT team should stay up to date with the rapidly evolving changes in cyberspace.

A skilled IT team equipped with tools, techniques, and assistance, as well as comprehensive knowledge, can skillfully handle even the most advanced cybercrime.

Also check out: Cyber security compliance guide

What are the disadvantages of cybersecurity?

While the benefits of cybersecurity are unparalleled, implementing it can be both costly and complex. There’s also a lack of skilled professionals which makes it challenging. Additionally, human errors make it difficult to achieve a robust security posture.

Regular updates 

To counter sophisticated hacking practices that have evolved, organizations need to regularly update their hardware, software, and security strategy to be one step ahead of the attackers.   

Needs continuous learning 

The learning process is a continuous process as the threats are new and never-ending.   

Complex to setup 

For setting up security architectures and tools, specialized personnel needs to be employed as it is a complicated and time-consuming process.  

Slower systems

Systems tend to become sluggish, as these security applications consume a lot of resources.   

Constant monitoring

Real-time monitoring of the system and network is required to detect threats well in advance, enabling the security team to assess the threat level and have a cybersecurity strategy to counter the same.   

Talent shortage

The number of qualified professionals is few compared to the requirements in the field of cyber security.   

Expensive

Cyber Security is very expensive,  requiring consistent learning and spending in a continuously ongoing fashion which can be a challenge for many small businesses. 

Types of common cyber security attacks

In recent years, several businesses and individuals have been the target of high-profile cyberattacks with devastating consequences. These can result in the theft of social security numbers, credit card information, bank account details, and sensitive data leaks. These attacks have helped organizations realize the importance of having strong cybersecurity measures in place.

The cyberattacks can be categorized as follows:

Phishing attacks

Phishing involves tricking users into clicking on malicious attachments or links, leading to the theft of sensitive information, such as financial data or login credentials. 

Malware attacks

Malware is malicious software that infects computers and devices to hijack devices, steal information, or launch attacks on other systems. 

Denial-of-service attacks

A denial-of-service attack is a kind of attack that prohibits users from accessing a system or service. This is achieved by flooding the system with requests or traffic or damaging it to affect its functionality. 

Ransomware attacks

Ransomware is malware that encrypts systems or files, and hackers demand a ransom to decrypt them. This may result in the loss of sensitive data or the complete shutdown of operations. 

Man-in-the-middle (MitM) attacks

A MitM attack is a kind of attack where an attacker intercepts private communications between two parties. This can be done by redirecting traffic to a malicious server or eavesdropping on a network connection. 

SQL injection

A SQL injection attack is used to inject malicious SQL code into the database by exploiting vulnerabilities in web applications. This code can modify, view, or delete data in the database. SQL injection attacks might also take control of the server or harm the system with other malicious activities.  

Upgrade your security game with Sprinto

Cyber security solutions are evolving as rapidly as cyber threats. The first step towards a cybersecurity strategy is to understand where you stand today with a cybersecurity audit. 

Cyber security audits enable you to get an independent, comprehensive analysis of your current cyber security posture. It can identify vulnerabilities, mitigate the risk of attacks, expose weaknesses and high-risk practices, and continue to foster trust and confidence with your key investors and customers alike. 

Sprinto is an automated security compliance software that helps you to achieve air-tight security provider and seamlessly integrates with any cloud setup. It runs compliance checks to consolidate risk and maps entity-level controls to manage all aspects of compliance from a single dashboard. 

G2  has consecutively recognized Sprinto as a Leader in Security Compliance, where it was rated #1 in Usability, ROI, User Adoption, and Ease of Implementation.

Get in touch with us now to learn more.

FAQs

What are the 5 advantages of cyber security?

Companies must implement strong cybersecurity measures to protect themselves against breaches:

• Avoiding legal Fines and Penalties
• Maintaining Employee and Customer Trust
• Safeguarding Business Operations
• Better cybersecurity posture
• Protecting organizations against paying a ransom
• Staying ahead of the competition

What 3 things does cybersecurity protect?

Cyber security covers collective methods, processes, and technologies to help protect the confidentiality, availability, and integrity of computer systems, data, and networks, against unauthorized access or cyber-attacks.

What are the features of cyber security?

Security professionals should be aware of where to use anti-spam, content filters, wireless security, anti-viruses, anti-malware, etc., providing comprehensive protection to the system against adversaries while ensuring the security and confidentiality of data and enterprise actions.