Internet is a very conversant word. Since internet helps connects people to the world, it’s becoming more and more popular.
People think of various ways to use internet like connecting with emails, sharing files or folders, entertainment, online transactions (sale or purchase of commodities), net banking, marketing & promoting products etc. The list is very long, but Internet marketing and Net Banking holds a major share in the use of internet.
Since usage of paper is taken over by computers, all the information regarding your company, banks, audits etc. is kept on computers. Your computer holds more precious data than any other storage. Hence securing the same is a top priority.
Even your browser history, your processing power, your IP address can be misused by hackers for their illegitimate gain causing damage to your company as well as its reputation. So, it becomes very important for all Entrepreneurs to secure all this information and data so that cyber criminals don’t misuse it.
Computer security is also termed as IT security or Cyber Security. It becomes very essential for Entrepreneurs to invest in cyber security to keep your networks, systems, data and programmes safe.
A survey as per PWC’s report, shows that small and medium-size businesses in the United States cut spending on security by 20% in 2014. Since cyber-security is expensive, companies don’t feel the importance to invest in it, but they fail to realise the repercussions if their systems are hacked. As per latest research, 60% of small businesses close within a span of 6 months due to lack of investment is security. The more increase in cyber threats, the more cyber security becomes a top investment priority.
Reasons for investing in IT security:
1. Protection of confidential information:
Customer satisfaction = Company’s success; the statement is true in all businesses. Since customer satisfaction plays a pivotal role in any business, securing their confidential information and data becomes even more important. IT security creates a trustworthy environment for customers.
Different businesses need different types of security depending on customer data.
In banking sector, theft of any banking information of customer can prove to be dangerous for customer financially and damaging the reputation of the company. Such information needs to be encrypted and safeguarded against hackers by using cyber security.
Even corporate companies need to protect their corporate data from security breaches.
The endpoint is the main target of entry of cyber criminals.
2. Protection of Passwords:
There are ample usages of passwords for different company apps whose protection is important. Once the password is hacked, the hacker can access all information and misuse them against your company.
Password Manager application stores your website passwords and other financial information. It comes with a two-factor authorisation and encrypts sensitive documents using 256-bit AES encryption. The more secure the password, the lesser the security breach.
3. Backups Security:
New data breaches are not news anymore.
The greater the security measures, the more complex breaches are made by hackers to enter your computers and access your information. If you feel taking a backup will keep your information safe from hackers, you are highly mistaken.
Even backups are not secure; so, to avoid prevent hackers to hack your backup system; you need to take backup security measures for the same.
These backup security measures vary from one organisation to another. For e.g. A certain business may require tape-based backup and some other business may require disk backup.
To ensure tape-backups are not misused by internal threats, protection through certificate-based encryption is also possible.
In addition to this, all in and out traffic of backup servers can be encrypted using IPS (Internet Protocol Security) or anything like it.
4. Continuation and Credibility of business:
Continuation of business is termed as successful business. Smooth flow of operations without any disruptions leads to monetary gains in business. When proper security measures are taken; they lead to non-interruptive flow of business thus improving its credibility and share value.
Even if you are expanding your current venture, this credibility goes in a long way in making your new venture a success.
5. IT Security Investment vs Cost of Breach:
Though investment in security is not very cheap, it’s not that costly when you calculate it with the cost of data breach. As compared to the protection the security is providing and its hidden and non-hidden advantages, the IT security investment cost turns out to be very nominal for your business.
A survey states that the average life cycle of a breach is 279 days of which company takes approximately 206 days to identify the breach and further 73 days to control the breach.
If the company had proper IT security measures and an efficient responsive team in place, then the cost of breach would be $1.23 million less than the total costs. i.e. ($3.51 million instead of $4.74 million).
6. Prevents Loopholes:
Though your business plan and implementation may be perfect, there can be certain hidden loopholes which you are unaware of or have forgotten to take care of. Lack of awareness makes way for hackers to attack these loopholes, which in turn leads to business loss.
IT security takes care of loopholes making it difficult for cyber criminals to penetrate illegally in your business.
For e.g. having an unsecure WIFI connection or a website without an SSL (Secured Socket Layers) certificate is an easy target for hackers.
SSL certificate is very effective in protecting such corporate information that passes between the server and the browser.
Always use secured WIFI and decrease the risk of cyber-crime. If you have more domains, then you can go for SAN SSL certificate that are available at a very nominal rate on SSL2BUY. Investment in SAN SSL provides unlimited protection to your multiple domains.
7. Relieves Tensions, Improves Business:
The term “Security” stands for safety. Security in any form makes you feel safe. Installing cybersecurity for your firm makes you tension-free from cyber-attacks, thus helping you to focus on your business.
This in turn helps in building a strong customer base & maintaining the healthy and trustworthy relationships with clients. It creates goodwill about the company, in turn helping in retention process.
Summing Up:
A small security measure determines the future of your company irrespective of the size of your business.
Focus on what needs to be protected, plan the monetary and non-monetary consequences of attack, and educate your employees about the vulnerabilities of attacks and setup strong cyber security measures to protect your business.
High IT security investment, ensures the safety of your employees by keeping their information safe, prevents legal hassles by curbing attacks, improves customer relations, and increases ROI.
Secure your business, succeed in your business.