Cyberattacks Cost Businesses Big Time

Cyberattacks are costing businesses more than ever before.

According to the 2017 Annual Cybersecurity Report (ACR) report from Cisco, companies that suffer a data breach are expected to have customer, opportunity and revenue losses exceeding 20 percent.

More than 50 percent of the nearly 3,000 chief security officers (CSOs) and security operations leaders surveyed for the report said organizations face public scrutiny after a data breach takes place.

The most affected part of the business for a company that suffers a breach is its operations and finance systems, followed by brand reputation and customer retention. Of those organizations impacted by a data breach, 22 percent lost customers — with 40 percent of them losing more than 20 percent of their customer base.

Nearly 29 percent lost revenue, and another 23 percent of breached organizations lost business opportunities, the report revealed.

“In 2017, cyber is business, and business is cyber — that requires a different conversation and very different outcomes. Relentless improvement is required, and that should be measured via efficacy, cost and well-managed risk,” John Stewart, SVP and chief security and trust officer at Cisco, said in a statement.

CSOs surveyed said there were many barriers to advancing the security postures of their organizations, such as budget constraints, poor system compatibility and a lack of trained talent.

“The 2017 ACR reports that just 56 percent of security alerts are investigated, and less than half of legitimate alerts remediated. Defenders, while confident in their tools, battle complexity and manpower challenges, leaving gaps of time and space for attackers to utilize to their advantage,” the statement continued.