Cyber Attacks Emerge as a Top Threat Feared by Businesses

What keeps you up at night? Or sweating during the day?

More than likely, you have plenty of work-related issues that keep you stressed, including profitability, efficiency, staffing, and the company’s overall viability. But it appears that there’s a larger nightmare that has emerged as the No. 1 threat business officials fear.

A recent survey revealed that the threat of a cyber attack is among the top worries faced by business and IT leaders in 79 countries, according to a report by the Business Continuity Institute and the British Standards Institution. Also, for the first time, significant political changes made the list of top 10 threats.

“Cyber attacks and data breaches continue to cost organizations billions of dollars annually, a sum that is only likely to go up with the increasing integration of new pieces of technology into daily operations,” said BCI Executive Director David Thorp.

Businesses are not equipped for protection

Although the damage caused by cyber attacks is mounting to the tune of $400 billion a year worldwide, a survey revealed that businesses aren’t aggressively investing in effective security measures.

The study by Accenture found that ineffective security efforts have led to breaches going undetected, causing significant problems with many company operations. More than 50% of the respondents said that it had taken months, in some cases, for officials to determine that the company had been victimized.

The problem is expected to worsen, with SAP projecting that cyber attacks will cost companies $90 trillion in damages by 2030.

According to SAP, companies, such as those in the oil and gas industry, can minimize those risks by proactively implementing measures for prevention, detection and resiliency — in an effort to address vulnerabilities and data at various points.

Studies also revealed that businesses were aware of the potential for internal threats as well as external threats.

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Alex Carroll

Managing Member at Lifeline Data Centers

Alex, co-owner, is responsible for all real estate, construction and mission critical facilities: hardened buildings, power systems, cooling systems, fire suppression, and environmentals. Alex also manages relationships with the telecommunications providers and has an extensive background in IT infrastructure support, database administration and software design and development. Alex architected Lifeline’s proprietary GRCA system and is hands-on every day in the data center.