Due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, cybercrime is more prevalent than ever. In fact, the FBI has estimated that cybercrime has risen by over 300% since March 2020, with continual increases. As such, it is more important than ever for both individuals and businesses to lean more heavily on cybersecurity. For businesses, it is of particular importance, as losing customer data can make you subject to a ransomware attack. This is when a hacker steals your company’s data, including the data of your customers, and then attempt to ransom back to you for a large amount of money. This often backfires, as cybercriminals will often leak the data anyway even if you are able to buy it back.
To avoid this situation entirely, it is important that your business, no matter the industry and no matter how big it is, invest in cybersecurity solutions. Approaching your digital security with a plan in place is of the utmost important, and it will also help you in a number of ways, which we’ll detail below.
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Build customer trust
Businesses need to exist on one thing and one thing alone. And that is customer trust. Most businesses have worked for years to build a trusted brand that is not only used widely, but that is also recognized for being trustworthy. Not taking cybersecurity seriously is a very easy way to lose that trust overnight, especially in light of a ransomware attack or other type of cyberattack. Whether your business is a physical one or is entirely online, losing your customer’s data through a lack of care to your cybersecurity apparatus will force you to find a whole new base of customers, which can be very difficult.
Protect data
Letting your customers know that you have their data protected not only builds trust, but also makes sure that you never have to deal with the problem yourself. This can be done by using a solution like a deal room, which can be accessed safely and securely and can be used to store documents such as financial balance sheets and contracts you are working on with other businesses. Losing information such as credit card numbers, social security numbers, and personal names and addresses can be impossible to recover from, so it is important that you use a secure solution to protect your data. If you are not exactly sure what you are doing here, it may make sense to hire a cybersecurity professional to run an audit on your business to see where you can improve your cybersecurity apparatus beyond what you are currently doing.
Save you the hassle down the road
You don’t actually have to do much to at least hit the basics of cybersecurity. Making small but impactful changes can be done on the cheap, and can also benefit your company down the road. To do this, you can do things like use a VPN to access sensitive web pages such as your bank accounts, and you can also use a password manager to aggregate all of your passwords to your different accounts so that they don’t get hacked. Even just taking these steps and talking to your staff about what they can do to avoid a cyberattack can go a long way when it comes to keeping your business safe and secure online.
In summary
Ultimately, there are many reasons why your business needs to prioritize cybersecurity. From building and maintaining customer trust, to protecting sensitive data through a deal room, to implementing easy-to-use tools such as password managers and VPNs, businesses can do a lot to take their cybersecurity into their own hands. With cybersecurity becoming a bigger and bigger threat, it is more important than ever for businesses to consider their own cybersecurity apparatus and the possible implications of a hack or data breach on their business.
