IMPLEMENTING THE NIST CYBERSECURITY FRAMEWORK
With clear justification, many businesses are increasingly concerned about cyber security and data breaches. As many of the breaches experienced by high-profile firms over the last few years have demonstrated, no company, no matter its size, is safe from attack.
And the financial cost of each data breach continues to rise. According to Ponemon Institute’s 2019 ‘Cost of a Data Breach Report’, the global average cost of a data breach in 2019 was $3.92m, up 1.5 percent on 2018. The damage that a breach can cause to a company’s reputation can also be significant – up to a third of customers in retail, finance and healthcare will stop doing business with organisations that have been breached, Ponemon notes.
Affected companies can lose millions due to liability, lawsuits, reduced earnings, decreased consumer trust and falling stock prices, all while putting consumers and their valuable data at risk. At the same time, malicious actors are more sophisticated, posing greater threats to companies than ever before.
To meet this growing threat, companies must take appropriate steps to protect themselves. A good starting point is to audit security protocols and evaluate the cost of replacing outdated systems against the expense of a data breach. Furthermore, companies can invest in new technology, including artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). According to Capgemini’s ‘Reinventing Cybersecurity with Artificial Intelligence’ report, 61 percent of enterprises say they cannot currently detect breach attempts without the use of AI technologies, and 48 percent of firms say their budgets for AI in cyber security will increase by an average of 29 percent in 2020.
In addition, company’s can turn to the National Institute for Standards and Technology’s (NIST’s) Cybersecurity Framework. For many, the Framework is one of the best ways to mitigate the risk of a data breach.
Apr-Jun 2020 Issue
Richard Summerfield