The Cost of Being Complacent on Protection Against Online Cyber Threats

Why do online cyber threats happen? The answer seems straightforward enough: An organization’s or individual’s computer security is compromised, enabling data breaches of employee records and theft of intellectual property. Moreover, it’s becoming more a question of an individual’s or IT department’s complacency on protection rather than the ability to fend off attacks. Hackers are always looking for those weaknesses in any system and complacency is certainly a weakness, a large self-inflicted breach in a defense wall, to put it bluntly.

Today’s threat environment is certainly daunting. Many online security experts have already been predicting that as of 2013 there would be at least one major data breach per month. And this outlook is somewhat conservative. In 2016 alone, there have been 411 recorded data breaches, exposing more than 11 million records. While not all incidents may qualify as “major,” they covered different sectors from healthcare to government, and have even affected basic services as in the case of the public transportation hacking in San Francisco recently.

Complacency makes defense difficult

Often, the problem begins with the defender or computer user. While it’s true that a hacker can find new ways to penetrate even the toughest defenses, this is extremely rare. Often, a hacker is handed the advantage by the user’s complacency. For instance:

§  Less than a third of computer, mobile, and tablet users install security software.

§  More than 63 percent of those with installed security software don’t even run virus checks.

§  40 percent don’t even know what safety breaches are.

§  Many mobile and tablet users use public Wi-Fi at malls for online banking.

§  More than 50 percent of Internet users are more concerned with speedy service than security. 

Businesses often feel they’re too big or too small to be in danger

Recent large data breaches confirm that even huge businesses need risk mitigation, while an insider threat can hit an organization of any size. In fact, more than half of security incidents involved a worker, former employee, or contractor. With even small businesses dependent on supply chains, the ingredients are there for a breach.

Not investing in endpoint security

Too often, businesses, big or small, just pay lip service to protecting customer data and company reputation. However, more than one-fifth of businesses of any size today lacked an enterprise resource management program, which could help with a breach. Again, it goes back to the basic complacency of “we’re not going to be targeted, anyway.”

Not vetting suppliers and failing to assign proper responsibility

Businesses are too heavily reliant on vendors and partners for credit card processing, supplies and materials, infrastructure maintenance, and consulting. Amid the growth of this ecosystem, leaders may assume that a breach caused by a contractor is not on them, despite their likely need to provide credit monitoring after such an event. This mindset can lead to the insufficient vetting of suppliers and the creation of weaknesses throughout the supply chain.

So the solution here is simple: Always stay protected. Remember the cliché, “An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of solution.” It’s a cliché worth noting. After all, what’s at stake here is your own computers and even your own business.