Cybersecurity is a critical business concern for c-suite executives in every industry

From manufacturing to media, cybercrime has infiltrated every sector in every industry. Today, the threat landscape is such that it has almost become a certainty that your business will fall victim to an attack if it hasn't already.

Yet, despite this growing threat, many C-Suite executives are unwilling to invest in the cybersecurity infrastructure required to protect their organisations from the evolving nature of an attack. As you'll discover, this is a short-sighted approach that can ultimately lead to dire consequences for the future success of a business. 

The state of cybercrime

Today, cybercrimes are more common than ever before. Spurred on by the Covid-19 pandemic, when so many business processes migrated away from on-prem procedures to online solutions, hackers are now more prolific and ingenious in their approaches.

So how has this rise in cybercrime played out in figures? Between 2010 and 2020, reported cybercrimes increased by 300% in the US alone. At the same time, the UK Office for National Statistics recorded a drop in overall crime between 2020 and 2021—the height of the pandemic. However, it also recorded an 85% increase in computer misuse offences. 

All of these attacks come at a tremendous financial cost. In fact, by 2025, the cost of cybercrime to businesses worldwide is predicted to exceed $10 Trillion. 

And with such sophisticated approaches, even if you do have cybersecurity measures in place, they may be falling short. In a recent report, the World Economic Forum stated:

"Business, government and household cybersecurity infrastructure and/or measures are outstripped or rendered obsolete by increasingly sophisticated and frequent cybercrimes."

To keep your business safe, you must be ahead of the curve. If not, the damage can be devastating. 

What is the fallout from inadequate cybersecurity provisions? 

Business leaders can feel the effect of a cyber-attack in every part of an organisation. Trust in a brand diminishes. Financial penalties, particularly for failing to secure confidential customer data, can be crippling. And you may require vast amounts of time and money to fix infected systems. 

And that's just on the customer-facing side of your organisation. Internally, you'll need to deal with an attack's damaging effects on your employees. They, too, may have had personal information stolen and made public. And why? Because the company they work for failed to secure the systems they need to complete their jobs securely. 

What are the most common cybersecurity threats to businesses? 

The following list includes the most prominent cyberattack methodologies in 2022. It's important to note that none of these tactics is exclusive to a particular industry, and hackers could use any one of them to harm your business.

Ransomware: Hackers use various tactics to infect a system with malicious code in a ransomware attack. The aim is to block access to or encrypt critical files. Only when a ransom is paid is an attack suspended. 

Malware: Although ransomware is a type of malware, there are many more under this broader heading. Hackers can infect your hardware in many ways by installing various malware such as keyloggers, computer viruses, and spyware. 

Phishing: Phishing attacks are on the rise. They, along with social engineering tactics, occur when cyber crooks use impersonation techniques to convince a user to hand over important account access information. 

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS): In a DDoS attack, systems are flooded with requests to a point where they can no longer function effectively. This bottleneck is often only removed when a financial settlement is reached. 

Man-in-the-Middle (MITM): Hackers can intercept traffic between various electronic communication channels, such as email. With this information, they can infiltrate your networks and wreak havoc. 

Credential stuffing: Breached credentials are bought and sold on the Dark Web in their millions. A hacker will use an automated bot to bombard an organisation with login attempts using a list of breached credentials in a credential-stuffing attack. 

Action plan

So, what next? This article has provided you with an overview of the current threat landscape, and it should also have demonstrated the importance of implementing a solid cybersecurity strategy in your organisation. The difficulty is knowing how to develop and implement these security protocols.

At the upcoming UK Cyber Week - Expo & Conference, we're inviting business leaders from every sector to join hundreds of other attendees to hear from industry experts. You'll learn about the latest threats and, more importantly, how to counteract them.