adminDid you know that 82% of the victims of cyber extortion are small businesses? This is because disturbing events are taking place involving cyber extortion.
People are being convinced to give their money to scammers through online threats. Yet the numbers are growing.
So are you wondering how you can keep your company safe from these in the digital age?
Read on to learn why you need to protect your business against this threat.
Financial Impact
Cyber extortion is when cyber extortionist attack, disrupt, disable, or cyber blackmail businesses in exchange for a ransom payment. Victims of this criminal activity must pay a fee to restore access to their networks and data. This of which leads to costly financial losses.
Organizations of all sizes are vulnerable to cyber extortion. This is because cyber criminals have become increasingly sophisticated in their techniques. With the rise in cyber extortion, businesses need to take proactive steps across their digital operations to protect themselves from financial impact.
Operational Disruption
Cyber extortion involves malicious actors using digital threats to force companies to pay money or data to defend their data or critical systems. Such attacks can be particularly damaging to organizations, as they can lead to the loss of:
- time
- money
- data
- customer trust
Because of the nature of digital extortion, businesses must protect their:
- networks
- systems
- data
And this can be done through cybersecurity measures. This includes regularly patching software, investing in encryption, monitoring activity on networks, and employing strong authentication measures. If you want to get the best solutions to these, you may want to contact these IT professionals.
Reputation Damage
Over the past decade, more companies have started to become aware of the threats posed by hackers who will seek to extort their victims with threats of damaging reputation damage. Malicious actors will threaten to:
- publish stolen data
- leak confidential information
- attack a company’s systems
This is if their demands are not met. As a result, companies can be subjected to significant damage to their reputation, leading to serious consequences such as a decrease in customer trust, lost sales, and potential financial vulnerability.
As such, companies must take measures to protect themselves from cyber-extortion, such as maintaining updated and secure systems, educating employees on digital security, and using strong authentication techniques to verify legitimate requests and mitigate the risk of cyber-attacks.
Data Breach and Compliance Issues
To protect businesses, it is essential to have a data breach and compliance plan in place. Businesses should implement systems that can:
- detect malicious cyber activity
- encrypt sensitive data
- provide secure access
They should also train and educate employees on data security to reduce the risk of malicious activity. It is also important to periodically review and update data breach and compliance policies. Doing so will help ensure the safekeeping of customer data and can help prevent costly data breaches and legal action.
Protect Your Business from Cyber Extortion
In the digital era, cyber extortion is an important issue to take seriously. To protect your business, stay up to date on the latest cyber security measures, and consider engaging a professional cyber-security firm.
Don’t underestimate the potential damage cyber extortion can do – take action now to ensure the safety of your data and reputation.
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