Next to "you're on mute", perhaps one of the most
common phrases of this past year has been "don't click on
that link"!
The risk of suffering a severe financial loss due to a cyber
event has never been greater. According to Allianz's Risk
Barometer, it was the top risk facing businesses; not long ago, it
barely registered in the survey 1.
The cost of a cyber-attack can be absolutely paralyzing for a
business. In fact, Cybersecurity Ventures predicts cybercrime
damages will cost the world $6 trillion annually by 2021, up from
$3 trillion in 2015 2. The costs to businesses can
include direct out-of-pocket costs (such as damage and restoration
of data, ransom payments, stolen money), post-attack disruption to
the normal course of business, lost productivity, theft of
intellectual property, theft of personal and financial data, as
well as indirect costs such as reputational harm and potentially
even lawsuits for data leaks involving sensitive information.
