6 things to consider about security breaches

Let’s face it—no one wants to deal with the problems that come along with a security breach, and no one wants to sit down and review everything that could possibly happen if their system got hacked.  There are many businesses out there that haven’t had the time, resources, or energy to think all these things through. But your customers want to know that their information will be safe with you.

Matters of information security bring up a lot of questions about the hidden costs of security breaches, and we’ll discuss some of them now.  Our clients rely on us to keep their data secure, so we want you to know that we’re thinking of all of these things, and more.

Here are 6 things that you should consider with regards to security breaches:

1)     How long could a security breach or cyber attack keep your business from running?

Would it take days – weeks – a month or longer to come back from a breach? How much money would that prevent your business from making during that timeframe?

2)     What would it cost your business to repair anything that’s damaged during a cyber attack?

You could have viruses that need to be dealt with. Your software could have programming issues that would need to be addressed. You may need to look into new or better firewalls.

3)     What would it cost to repair your brand’s image/name after a breach?

This is a cost that a lot of small and medium businesses might have overlooked. A damaged reputation can make an extremely negative impact to your ability to do business in the future – not just with the clients that were impacted, but with anyone that finds out that your system was compromised. Brand reputation is a huge factor in purchase decisions, and it takes a tremendous amount of work to rebuild a reputation that has been marred by something like a breach or attack that exposes client information.

4)     If client information is compromised, what are the implications of repairing that relationship, both in monetary costs and in client trust?

You’ll have clients that will forgive easily, and you’ll have some that will have a tainted image of your company in their minds. Some may pull their business right away. Others may decline to renew contracts or will simply make future purchases elsewhere. Can you afford to lose a the trust of one or many of your valued clients?

5)     What would the costs of implementing new security protocols be?

If you didn’t have security protocols in place and your system was compromised, it’s not optional to implement them after a breach. If you don’t implement security protocols, your reputation could be damaged much further because you are more vulnerable to attack. If you operate under the adage that lightning never strikes twice, you may be surprised to find out that it actually does!

6)     Cost couldn’t be very high on average…right?

According to this post on Supermedia.com’s blog, “the average cost of a data breach to a small business is around 5 million.” The post goes into a more in-depth look at all the angles that need to be covered when a business is attempting to keep them free from attack.

What this all means to you as a business owner

The answers to all of the above questions will vary based on the size of your business, the industry that you operate in, the type of data you are storing, and many other factors.  However, using a hosted virtual desktop company can minimize these costs because the legwork is already done the legwork for you. At Applications2U, we do what needs to be done to secure your software, we implement the security plan, and we handle any network security blips that arise giving you a few less things to think about.

Any questions?