When we have something of value, we think about how to protect it or how to keep it safe. There must also be a threat source that poses some kind of risk to it, though. As a result, when there is a valuable asset at stake and we feel there is a risk to it, we are concerned about security.
Let's take a look at the websites we visit and the data we have, such as accounts, emails, and files: we all keep a lot of private information. Consequently, it is important to keep such data safe and secure to make sure that we can do our online activities in a safe and secure way.
How would you answer these questions:
- What information is the most private to me?
- What is something that cannot be replaced?
- What might have an impact on my reputation?
Photographs, credit card and bank account details, personal or personally identifiable information, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Amazon, PayPal, cryptocurrency wallets, and passwords stored in your browser are just a few examples of what might be at risk. These are referred to as security assets, and they are the things that are important to us.
Source: Unsplash
The Internet's importance in our daily lives cannot be overemphasised. As we can see, it contains critical resources on which we all rely and which adversaries can exploit or abuse. Criminals can certainly monetize and profit from sensitive data if they manage to get their hands on it. It's highly possible that there's more to this endeavour than just making money, as well.
Changing our perspective a little bit and examining the data from the past
In 2021, the average cost of a data breach in the world was $4.24 million dollars. The figure was $3.86 million in 2020. These are merely averages, but the cost of a data breach can easily approach the tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions of dollars. Fines imposed by laws and regulations such as GDPR aren't the only way a data breach may cost a company money.
Source: IBM Report
One of the worst examples we have is a well-known data breach from 2013. A company experienced a data breach in which the personal information of 3 billion users was exposed. This included real names, email addresses, dates of birth, and phone numbers, among other things. The organisation was in the process of being acquired by another company at the time the breach was discovered, and it cut the company's value by $350 million.
This implies that security is a major concern and that the dangers are not merely theoretical. The cost of doing the wrong thing is huge here. Because there are real implications, such as fines and decreased value, but there are also intangible consequences, like damage to a company's reputation. It is getting more and more expensive to keep information safe as attackers continue to push the boundaries when it comes to information security.
The role of IT security professionals is to protect against attacks we've seen before while also seeking to reduce the impact of emerging risks. The good news is that also the general public, clients, and regulators are becoming more aware of how to protect themselves and others from cyber attacks, supporting security-conscious behaviour globally. In this constant state of digital vulnerability, being aware is one of the most important things you can do to fight the next big digital threat.