Cybercrime is currently the most serious threat to businesses all around the world.
Cybercrime can come from anywhere, causes substantial financial damage, and is often virtually untraceable. Across the world, companies have been built with the sole purpose of cyber attack. Cybercriminals are selling advanced tools through the dark web that can make attacking an unprotected company trivial.
Let’s take a closer look at the very serious threat this poses to not only businesses — but to consumers.
The Rise of Enterprise-Level Cybercrime
Modern cybercrime gangs operate with the strength and effectiveness of businesses. Just recently, a new cyber gang was discovered to be targeting U.S. enterprises and government institutions. This cyber gang had started as a one-man operation on Craigslist, but somehow managed to develop into an enterprise itself.
This is not unusual. Cybercriminals are becoming organized. Often, their local governments have little to no interest in stopping these criminals as they bring money into the country. Thus, enterprises are fighting against companies that are as well-organized as themselves; companies that have advanced, enterprise-grade solutions, and no laws that they need to follow.
The Growing Global Cost of Cybercrime
It’s estimated that cybercrime is costing the global economy as much as $600 billion every year. Cybercrime impacts enterprises in every country, with enterprises that have a larger attack surface being most at risk. A company can lose millions of dollars in a single breach, or may find themselves the target of a costly ransomware attack.
All of this has led to businesses adopting increased cybersecurity measures, in addition to cybersecurity insurance. Of these, cybersecurity insurance is likely the most useful. While businesses cannot protect themselves against every potential risk, cybersecurity insurance can at least protect them from the financial consequences of a cybercrime.
It’s estimated that businesses spent $84 billion in 2015 protecting themselves from cybercrime. Companies are investing in an array of utilities that are meant to protect them.
Cybercrime and the Largest Enterprises
Let’s consider the largest enterprises in the world. In talking about security, Walmart’s CISO discussed the company’s most substantial risk factors and its methods of managing risk. During an interview, Walmart’s CISO revealed a few critical components of Walmart’s security measures:
- Regular internal and external reviews
- Risk and compliance audits
- Early adoption of technology
- Segmentation of data
- Regularly reviewing their security stack
As new models and technologies emerge, Walmart explores different options for its security infrastructure. Walmart’s CISO notes that security tends to lag behind other areas of technology.
And, of course, user experience must remain at the forefront of these changes for Walmart, which includes everything from its brick-and-mortar locations to its eCommerce solutions.
Walmart has a fairly standard way of attacking cybersecurity: constant analysis and testing, backed by a segmentation and delineation of data. Other companies have more inventive solutions, such as United Airlines — which rewards hackers who find security vulnerabilities in their system. This type of purchased “white hat” hacking is very common, as it makes it profitable for a hacker to go directly to the business rather than trying to exploit their flaws.
SMBs vs Larger Enterprises
Large enterprises can afford a continuous security testing process, but SMBs may not have the same luxury. SMBs remain one of the largest targets for cybercriminals, and many SMBs struggle to maintain their security with the resources they have. For small and medium-sized businesses, there are two options that are growing: Security-as-a-Service and, as mentioned before, and cybersecurity insurance.
Security-as-a-Service allows an SMB to offload their security solutions to a managed service provider, thereby ensuring that they are covered by security professionals without having to pay for security professionals. As security becomes more important, these SaaS firms become more plentiful and prolific.
Cybersecurity is going to be a continual concern for businesses of all sizes, and larger enterprises are currently locked in an arms race. With an extraordinary number of high profile data breaches every year, it’s become obvious that even larger enterprises can become victim to criminal attacks. For many companies, it is less about avoiding risk altogether, and more about reducing the resulting damage.
Regards,
Ethan Warrick
Editor
Wealth Authority
