As an entrepreneur, you have a lot of things to think about. Cybersecurity should be at the top of your list of things to think about. Cyber threats have increased tenfold over the last decade. According to the Department of Defense, breeches have cost the United States $100 billion every year, and the cost worldwide is $600 billion for a total of 1% of the worldwide GDP. Any entrepreneur should take those numbers seriously. Learn why cybersecurity has to be at the top of your list of things to do.
Your Customers Trust You
Data is the new currency in today’s economy. The data that you collect from customers and clients is valuable. Protecting that data is essential to your business. Any entrepreneur knows for a business to succeed, it has to be trusted. If there is a data breach, your customers and clients will lose trust in your business. They will not be angry with the thieves that hijacked their information from you, they will be mad at you and your business.
Data breaches can affect a business’s reputation for a long time. Even the larger companies have learned the hard way how damaging a breach can be. As an entrepreneur, you likely do not have the funds on hand that large corporate entities do to clean up a “breach mess”. It can get costly to clean up after a breach, your business can wind up in litigation. It is a very serious matter.
Remote Workers and Cybersecurity
There are about 11 million meetings that happen every day in the United States. Many of those meetings depend on video calls and VOIP services. Reliability is key for those services to work. If you are an entrepreneur with remote workers, video chat services, meeting online, and other virtual activities are the backbone of your business. A cyber breach of these services can leave you unable to connect with employees, or worse yet, have uninvited guests listening in and stealing information.
A good cybersecurity plan can help to protect your remote workers and your ability to communicate with them. Can you really afford not to be in touch?
Fraudulent Activity
Cybersecurity is critical today when everything is done online, including banking, receiving payments, invoicing, and more. According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, businesses lose 5% of their revenue to fraud each year. Fraudulent activities can go unnoticed for a while and snowball out of control. A good cybersecurity plan in place will keep fraudulent activity down.
Unfortunately, the small business owner is typically at the greatest risk of fraudulent activity because cyber security is often ignored or only the minimum is done. Risking online security is something that no entrepreneur can afford.
Protection for Employees
A data breach does not only affect your customers or clients, it can affect your employees as well. A good cybersecurity plan helps to protect your employees while they are working online. Your employees will feel more confident in the workspace, which can help to increase productivity. When your employees do not have to worry about unauthorized access and activities that they can be blamed for, the workplace is more relaxed and the focus can be put on the work.
It Is a Smart Financial Move
As an entrepreneur, you should look at cybersecurity as insurance. Would you drive your vehicle without insurance? Of course not. You want to drive with peace of mind, knowing that if you hit another car you are protected. Cybersecurity is the same. You do not want to get online without an insurance policy that will protect your business in the virtual realm.
Investing in good security is like paying for a good insurance plan. Your business may never be “attacked” but there is a good chance that it will and having security in place will thwart the attack. Some cybersecurity is so good you will never even know that someone tried to breach your data and your business. Learn more about the right security to protect the business that you built or that you are trying to build today.
