While web applications and technological advances continue to revolutionalize the information sector, they have caused an upsurge in cyber attacks and serious data breaches. Institutions and organizations can no longer take cyberattacks lightly or something that merely happens to other people.
Today, cybercriminals are increasingly targeting sensitive data rather than money the more reason why federal & military data security solutions have become a top priority. Not only the military but every organization also has valuable information to lose and can be a target. Although there are regulations in place and legal legislation to protect data, every cyber attack brings the risk of a data breach, including other damaging after-effects such as:
Financial losses
Most countries today run their economies through capital markets and mobile money transfers. It is prudent that both governments and private institutions protect the systems that run these capital markets and mobile money transfers to avoid a collapse of the economy in case of a significant data breach.
Manipulation of such data may lead to the collapse of financial institutions. Data breach in a financial institution may result in share value manipulations such as decreased share value and revenue loss.
Damaged reputation
One damaging effect of a data breach in an institution is a damaged reputation. For example, if it is a company, investors will lose confidence in their systems, and some will even withdraw their support. For government institutions, sensitive information may be accessible to malicious people such as terrorists due to a data breach. While it is difficult to conceal cyber breaches for long, trust is lost when they eventually come out in public.
In a world where competition exists in every industry, trust is the most vital element in your organization. Rival companies may take such an opportunity to tarnish your brand and overtake the market. Therefore, you should invest in the best data security system.
Operational inconveniences
Data breaches halt operations of an institution in the process of investigation and recovery of the lost data. There is a complete loss of crucial data that requires the institution to spend more time trying to recover in some cases. During such instances, the only solution is usually to shut down operations entirely or scale down to give the investigators and cyber experts ample time to come up with solutions.
That results in loss of profits or revenue as the more the institution is shut, the more it inconveniences clients.
Legal responsibility
Sensitive data breaches in government and private institutions may lead to a floodgate of lawsuits from affected clients depending on the nature of lost information. Such data breaches may be due to negligence or lack of a proper cyber-secure system. Such institutions will have to bear legal and compensation costs to affected individuals.
It becomes your obligation to prove in a court of law that the breach was beyond your intervention, and you had all the necessary measures in place.
Reduced productivity
If a data breach collapses the institution’s entire operating system, the staff must take-offs to allow experts to restore them. During that time, there is no direct contribution to business growth, leading to decreased human resource productivity and revenue losses.
The bottom line
Investing in a cyber-secure system is paramount for the growth and operations of an institution. Information requires maximum protection at all costs.