7 Reasons Why Cybersecurity Fails

Too often cybersecurity is viewed as an IT cost rather than a business requirement. But the problem with that is: Cybersecurity, and the impacts of a lackluster implementation, is everyone’s problem. The consequences of a successful cyberattack can include:

An expensive data breach

The average cost was $3.86 million in 2020.

Exposure of employee and customer information

36 billion records were exposed from data breaches in the first half of 2020.

Hijacking of important business data

The average ransomware payment rose 33% in 2020 to over $100,000.

Halting of daily operations for days on end

40% of small businesses experienced eight or more hours of downtime due to a cyber breach.

Like we said, cybersecurity is everyone’s problem, and yet, it still fails. Data breaches happen, ransoms are demanded, and systems corrupted. Here are seven reasons why your business’ cybersecurity is not up to snuff.

1. You assume your business is too small to be a target.

54% of small businesses believe they’re too small for a cyberattack, and subsequently, don’t have a plan in place for reacting to cyber threats. Only 22% of small businesses encrypt their databases, and less than 15% rate their ability to mitigate cyber risks and threats as highly effective. This lack of—or even nonexistence of—cybersecurity could be fatal for a business. 43% of cyberattacks explicitly target small businesses, and 60% of them go out of business within six months of a successful security breach. 47% of small businesses do not know how to protect their organization from cyberattacks, and 75% do not have IT security personnel to handle cybersecurity measures and procedures.

2. You have an incomplete inventory of assets and endpoints.

67% of IT professionals believe the use of bring-your-own devices during the remote work of the pandemic has decreased their organization’s security health; a claim which a Ponemon Institute survey supports: 68% of businesses experienced one or more successful endpoint attacks in the past 12 months. 61% of remote employees used personal devices as their primary method to access company networks. Without an accurate inventory of assets, patches and updates go unmonitored, increasing the vulnerabilities of such endpoints. Over the past year, the cost of an endpoint attack has risen from $7.1 million to $8.94 million.

3. You set it, and then you forget it.

Firewalls, antivirus software, email security solutions, and endpoint security solutions are essential, but they’re not enough. Businesses must fortify themselves via a multi-layered approach, and yet, 52% of enterprises are not practicing mature cybersecurity. Instead of just installing software and calling it a day, companies must conduct proactive preventative measures, including frequent infrastructure penetration tests and vulnerability scans. In one survey, one in five businesses reported no security testing within the past six months, and 20% only conduct a security review when they feel the need. Additionally, only 5% of companies perform frequent vulnerability assessments. Perhaps that’s why 66% of small businesses are extremely concerned about cybersecurity risks.

4. You neglect completing patches and upgrades in a timely manner.

When a company discovers a security flaw, it develops a patch, which the end user must install. However, it averages 97 days to apply, test, and deploy a patch, creating months of vulnerability. That’s why it is so critical that businesses and end users install the upgrade as soon as it is released, but that’s not the case. 40% of businesses wait to test and roll out patches in order to avoid bugs. Additionally, the challenges of updating systems from remote locations mean updates go unmanaged for 48.5% of managed enterprise Android devices. Consequently, 40% of Android devices utilize an OS version older than v9.

5. You’re not actively monitoring your IT infrastructure for threats.

Incentivized and well-funded, cybercriminals utilize rapidly changing, sophisticated tactics to dismantle security systems. A layer of protection from software and spam filters is no longer enough. A strong cybersecurity practice includes proactive monitoring, preferably with 24/7 log management for threat detection. Last year, the average time to identify a breach was 207 days, according to IBM, and the average lifecycle from identification to containment was 280 days. Companies can lose $5.8 million a year from failures in log management, and another $1.6 million each for failing to detect abnormal login behavior and failing to deploy the log analytic tool.

6. You don’t realize your greatest liability is your own employees.

In Verizon Business 2021 Data Breach Investigations Report, 85% of breaches involved a human element, and 80% were discovered by external parties. Fallible creatures, humans are susceptible to social engineering attacks that manipulate people into revealing sensitive information. In 2020, phishing attacks rose 11%. The cost of a social engineering attack averages $130,000 in stolen money or lost data. The Aberdeen Group found that security awareness training can reduce the risk of social engineering threats by 70%. However, only 3 in 10 employees on average receive cybersecurity training.

7. You don’t have an incident response plan.

Incident response preparedness can save up to $2 million on data breaches, according to IBM, and yet 39% of small and medium-sized businesses do not have an incident response plan. An incident response plan comprises procedures to verify a breach, alert business leaders and customers, and isolate and eliminate the threat. On average, incident response testing can save over $295,000 on the cost of a breach, while business continuity can reduce the cost by $278,000. Simply forming a qualified incident response team has cost savings upwards of $272,000!

Preventing Cybersecurity Failure

There you have it: seven reasons why your cybersecurity may fail with the next ransomware attack. A mature cybersecurity practice demands protection, detection, and responsiveness. If you’re one of the 52% of enterprises not practicing mature cybersecurity, we recommend immediate resolution with one of NexusTek’s Cybersecurity Solutions packages. Our three plans of various levels of security fit any business’ needs, and each plan has the option to add further features for an even more diligent, multi-layered cybersecurity plan.

Essential Plan:

This managed protection plan offers 24/7/365 monitoring and alerts with managed cybersecurity and an annual security health review for a crucial foundation of defense.

Standard Plan:

Building on the protective base of Essential Solutions, this managed protection and response plan adds proactive steps to fortify your business, including security awareness training, managed DNS security, vulnerability scanning, and incident response.

Advanced Plan:

For robust cybersecurity, this managed detection and response plan enhances a business’ security effectiveness with managed SIEM to detect malware, log correlation and aggregation to analyze malicious logins, and incident response to eliminate threats. A security health review is conducted each quarter to stay on top of vulnerabilities and their solutions.

Whatever your business security needs, NexusTek has the expertise to bring your cybersecurity up to snuff.