Impact of Cyber Attacks on Organizations
Digital transformation has been extremely beneficial for businesses. They have cut operational time and costs significantly and optimized the overall structure extensively. However, this shift has also created increased exposure to cybersecurity risks, making business data and information systems vulnerable.
64% of companies worldwide have faced at least one cyber-attack, with 20 million records getting breached in March 2021 alone. The threat to information security is a serious matter because it has serious implications for businesses.
This blog will highlight some of the ways cyber-attacks affect organizations and how we can help.
Impact of Cyber Attacks on Organizations
Following are the main ways in which cyber-attacks negatively affect organizations:
1. Disrupt Business Operations
There have been numerous times when hackers breached an organization’s information systems and disrupted their routine functions. One of the best examples of such disruption is the Colonial Pipeline cyber attack in April 2021, which took down the largest fuel pipeline in the U.S. and led to fuel shortages across the East Coast.
Although everything was restored eventually, the sheer scale of the attack opened up serious discussions about the emerging threat to data security. The attack disrupted an entire country and caused significant panic.
2. Increase Operational Costs
Although the media has sensationalized cyber security, much of the damage from cyber-attacks is not exaggerated. The Melissa Virus emerged in 1999 when technology and digitization were in their earlier stages and caused extensive destruction in hundreds of companies, including giants like Microsoft.
As per reports, Microsoft spent around $80 million repairing the damage, some of which may have gone to reputation management since the programmer hid the virus in Microsoft Word files.
3. Damaged Reputation
As mentioned above, cyber-attacks damage a company’s reputation and weaken consumers’ trust in the company’s ability to protect their data. The attack on Sony’s PlayStation Network in April 2011 leaked data for 77 million users.
In March 2020, a hacker attacked Sina Weibo, China’s biggest social media platform, and stole data from 538 million accounts, later selling it on the dark web. Such attacks make users lose trust in an organization that has to spend a substantial amount of money on damage control.
4. The leak of Business Sensitive Data and Information
Some of the most costly data breaches have threatened intellectual property or leaked sensitive information about business strategy. Some of the major cyber-attacks in this regard have targeted the US Government, with the SolarWind case in March 2020 being a recent example.
In some cases, hackers breach company information systems and steal business ideas or research the company has been working on for years and either leak it or use it to demand ransom.
How Illum Advisors Can Help
iLLÜM Advisors was founded to serve organizations that need clear visibility in the areas of IT leadership, program management, and risk exposure. iLLÜM provides a concise understanding of how organizations can protect themselves without simply throwing money at the problem. Our teams have knowledge and experience in the cyber security sector and can help you strengthen your company against such attacks.
Final Thoughts
Cyber security is becoming more important as we step further into digitization. Cyber-attacks can be extremely costly for businesses, and most small and medium businesses cannot afford to have their data breached.
If you are looking for an IT cyber security advisory, please get in touch with us. Our team will be happy to address your queries or arrange a meeting for a detailed discussion.
