A vast majority of organizations are still unprepared to properly respond to cybersecurity incidents, with 77 percent of survey respondents indicating they do not have a cybersecurity incident response plan applied consistently across the enterprise.
It can be expected that costs associated with cybercrime will rise in the near to medium term and have a material impact on the global economy – while putting individual citizens’ and corporations’ important data at risk by cyber criminals. Due to the convergence of an escalation in the number of security vulnerabilities, an increase in hacker capabilities and tools as well as new legislation being enacted in the European Union, the estimated costs due to cybercrime may be conservative.
Multiple cyber-attacks and compromise of personal information of millions of people globally show that the complexity and intensity of cybersecurity attacks are on the rise, and it could have broader political and economic ramifications. As cybercrimes become more lucrative and cybercriminals become smarter, cybersecurity too will have to be intelligence driven, enabling a swift response to the advanced attacks.
In 2018, we witnessed some of the biggest data breaches ever – affecting businesses and consumers alike. From social media, hospitality, healthcare and even mail delivery, 2018 proved that there is no escaping cybersecurity flaws, regardless of the type of business or its popularity. For example, we witnessed the data of approximately 500 million Marriot guests get breached and a USPS security flaw that exposed the personal data of more than 60 million people.
When traveling for business, it’s necessary for safety precautions to extend beyond the typical nine to five working parameters. Throughout the entirety of a business trip, business travelers should remain diligent around the clock, taking additional precautions to ensure their personal safety. There are several security measures both a business and its mobile workforce should keep in mind as they book business travel accommodations, check into their hotels in remote locations and conduct business while in an unfamiliar area.
Within the enterprise security and risk management community, there’s no debate about the financial impact of business downtime — a single hour of downtime can mean over $100,000 in losses for the overwhelming majority of businesses. But the consequences of downtime aren’t just monetary; they can be reputational as well.
The 2019 Ethics & Compliance Hotline Benchmark Report by NAVEX Global® shows an overall 18 percent increase in harassment reports during 2017 and 2018 with 41 percent of reports substantiated.