Did you attend our webinar last week covering security and compliance, business continuity and preparing for a pandemic? If not, that’s ok–you can read about the recap below!
On March 27, Otava hosted a live webinar with Jason Duchnowski, product manager at Otava. Here’s what we covered:
The number of reported breaches is going up
According to the Ponemon Institute, there were 54% more breaches reported in the first half of 2019 than in 2018, with 3,800 reported breaches. As ransomware becomes nearly ubiquitous across every hacker’s arsenal, successful data breaches are growing at a continually accelerated rate and it’s more important than ever for companies to have a strong security stance.
The cost associated with data breaches is also going up
Way back in 2006, the average total breach cost for a company in the US was around 3.5 million. That’s no chump change, but compare that now to the average cost of over 8 million in 2019. That’s a 231% increase. Around the world, the average total cost of a data breach is just under 4 million, with an average of $150 per record cost. The really scary statistic? The average time to identify and contain a breach (known as the breach lifecycle) is 279 days. That’s nearly nine months.
The three keys to mitigating the cost of a breach
Making the best of limited resources is the age-old question for businesses facing any kind of challenge, and a security-based one is no different. There are three areas to consider when trying to lower the cost of a breach:
- Shortening the breach lifecycle: Develop a clear incident response plan and create a dedicated incident response team. These two items alone can help drastically shorten the breach lifecycle and save thousands of dollars in the process.
- Breach Prevention: Staff and employee training to identify and quarantine potential threats (phishing emails are a huge hook for hackers to get in the door) is key. Perform a security risk analysis and invest in security tools to strengthen your networks.
- Business Protection: Cyber liability insurance can be a lifesaver here because it can help cover costs if/when you are breached. Completing a vendor assessment program can also ensure the third parties you work with either have their own liability policies or are taking other security precautions to keep data secure.
To really sum up (TL;DR):
- The number of threats and costs associated with those threats are only going up
- Assume you will be breached
- Be harder to breach than others
- Minimize your Breach Risk Exposure
- Buy cybersecurity insurance, and don’t skimp on it
- Shorten the breach lifecycle
- Review disaster recovery and backup plans: This is critical and includes:
- Written remote work policy
- Updated, tested and validated DR Plan
- Contingency plans to maintain operations with limited staff
- Notification/escalation process to alert employees and clients of closures or changes to operations
To learn more, check out the full recording and the presentation!
