With cyber attacks on organisations showing no signs of slowing down, all businesses, no matter the size, should be prioritising investing in their cyber security.
According to Check Point research, international cyber attacks jumped 42% in the first half of 2022 compared to 2021, indicating the scale of the online threat. In 2022, IBM found that the average data breach cost £3.6 million, highlighting how the financial fallout of an attack could be disastrous.
Considering the rapid growth and evolving complexity of cyber security threats, it’s not hard to imagine that cost increasing. Gartner summarised that the total cost of cybercrime worldwide could reach £8.7 trillion by 2025 — even with organisations expected to collectively spend £156 billion on cyber security measures in 2023.
While those projections highlight that businesses are investing in cyber security measures, they must invest in the right areas. Here are four pointers to help you get the most out of your cyber security budget.
Take Stock Of Assets You Need To Protect
Without a clear idea of what you need to protect, it’s impossible to know how much budget you need to put towards cyber security. To get started, you could carry out:
– Business impact analysis (BIA)
– Asset discovery
– Vulnerability assessments
– Penetration testing
Having proper oversight of your organisation allows you to see which areas are more tolerant to risk and which areas need extra protection and investment. This information can also help your cyber security team analyse which areas they can handle in-house and where they need an outsourced expert like a managed service provider (MSP).
Monitor And Respond To Cyber Security Threats
Once you know the systems, data, assets and people you need to protect, you can implement a cyber security strategy to detect and respond to threats as they arise.
If your security team can’t constantly monitor for threats, you may need to outsource to a managed detection and response (MDR) service. These specialists are experienced in detecting cyber security threats across entire IT infrastructures and are usually more cost-effective than hiring an in-house team.
Plan For Disaster Recovery
Your data is your company’s biggest asset, so it’s no wonder hackers will demand huge ransoms — with no guarantee that you’ll get all your data back. To protect against ransomware payouts and the inevitable hike in cyber insurance premiums, you must allocate some of your cyber security budgets towards a disaster recovery plan.
Educate All Employees
Even with all the cyber security technology in the world, humans are the biggest threat to your company’s security; one 2022 study found that 82% of security breaches were down to social attacks, human error, and misuse.
Educate your employees on how hackers are using phishing emails, spear phishing and cold calls and host regular compliance refreshers so your team can spot the signs.
With the threat to cyber security growing stronger by the year, organisations must be strategic with their resources. By having a clear strategy, and an appropriately-allocated budget to support it, businesses can minimise the financial and reputational damage that an online attack has the potential to inflict.
For more insight on protecting your organisation from cyber security threat actors, read our archives here.
