Cybersecurity threats are an ever-present, everyday reality for businesses. What’s more, new threats are appearing all the time, with a growing level of technical sophistication – which makes it all too easy for organisations to be caught out by online criminals.
As attacks become more sophisticated, then, businesses need more than just reactive security measures. They need to think in terms of strengthening their cyber resilience. This isn’t just about protecting your systems from attack, but also about how well your business can respond, recover and continue to operate in the event of a security breach.
Without a comprehensive resilience strategy, even a small incident can soon snowball into a major crisis – and yet, many businesses are still unprepared. In this blog, we’ll look at what cyber resilience means in practice, and the potential consequences if you don’t take it seriously enough.
What is cyber resilience?
Cyber resilience refers to an organisation’s ability to prepare for, respond to and recover from cyberattacks. While traditional approaches to cybersecurity focus on prevention, cyber resilience assumes that breaches can and will happen at some point, so focuses on putting systems, controls and policies in place to mitigate their impact. As the UK Government makes clear in its policy statement for the forthcoming Cyber Security and Resilience Bill, cyber resilience is a crucial national priority. The Bill, which is expected to be put before Parliament later this year, is expected to strengthen resilience requirements across critical infrastructure and supply chains so that they can continue to function even if they fall victim to a cyberattack.
For businesses, this is likely to mean taking a proactive and layered approach: attaining certifications appropriate to your risk profile (the size of your business, the sector it’s operating in and so on), implementing robust internal policies, testing defences regularly and having the right monitoring tools and insurance policies in place.
The risks of neglecting cyber resilience
Failing to ensure that your business is truly cyber resilient – that it can withstand a cyberattack without crumbling – carries with it a number of risks. The implications of inadequate cyber resilience can be extremely costly, and not just in financial terms. Here are some of the biggest risks.
1. Fines, penalties and financial losses
The financial fallout from a cybersecurity breach can be devastating. This can include heavy regulatory fines as well as lost revenue, legal costs and ransom payments – so failing to invest in cyber resilience can come a truly steep cost. For instance, in 2018, British Airways was fined £20 million by the Information Commissioner’s Office after more than 400,000 of its customers had their payment data stolen in a cyberattack. Earlier this year, meanwhile, Marks & Spencer was hit by a large-scale data breach, forcing the company to halt its online retail operations for nearly seven weeks and costing it around £300 million altogether.
A robust cyber resilience framework can reduce the risk of such breaches and limit their scope, saving businesses from losing substantial revenue – as well as leaving them less exposed to ransom demands and subsequent regulatory punishments.
2. Reputational damage
Cyber incidents don’t just impact your bottom line. They can also severely damage your brand; trust is hard-won and easily lost. If customer data is compromised or services go offline for any length of time, the reputational ramifications can take years to shake off – if they ever are. Demonstrating that your organisation has a recognised cybersecurity certification (such as Cyber Essentials or Cyber Essentials Plus) and that you have an active programme of policy enforcement and risk management reassures customers and stakeholders that you take security seriously.
3. Increased downtime and disruption
Without a solid cyber resilience strategy, even a minor incident can lead to days, or potentially weeks, of downtime. Ransomware can lock up systems, while denial-of-service attacks can also take your business’s online operations down and bring everything to a standstill.
Resilient organisations, by contrast, are those that have the tools and procedures in place to recover quickly from a cyberattack. Business continuity policies, IT security protocols, disaster recovery and proactive measures like vulnerability assessments and penetration testing all help to minimise disruption and keep services running.
4. Legal and regulatory consequences
New legislation, such as the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill, is set to tighten requirements around how organisations protect their systems and data. While this legislation will concentrate primarily on critical infrastructure and public services, it is likely to have consequences for SMEs as well, particularly those engaged in contract work for public sector organisations.
Increasingly, therefore, cyber resilience is becoming a legal obligation as well as being good practice. But neglecting resilience could mean that insurers refuse to provide you with cyber insurance cover or refuse any claims you might make, that you breach contract obligations or potentially face legal action from affected customers.
This is why it’s essential to ensure your policies are up to date; this includes data protection and privacy policies, IT security policies and business continuity plans. These documents can’t be seen as mere box-ticking exercise, but rather as foundations of your resilience posture.
5. Losing ground against competitors
Cyberattacks are headline news almost daily now and, as a result, resilience is becoming a selling point in the marketplace. Clients, customers and partners want to know that their data is safe with you – and if they aren’t confident that it is, they’ll take their custom elsewhere. By getting certified and investing in tools like managed threat detection, organisations can gain a competitive advantage. Those that don’t adopt such measures risk losing contracts and being seen as unreliable partners, which can cost you valuable business.
Why your business needs to get serious about cyber resilience
Increasingly, cyber resilience is becoming an essential aspect of doing business in the digital age. The risks of neglecting it, from financial fallout to reputational damage, are clear. But you can safeguard your business by acting now.
By securing relevant cybersecurity certifications, keeping your policies up to date, keeping on top of weaknesses with vulnerability assessments and penetration tests, and ensuring you have cyber insurance protection reflecting your risk profile, you can build enduring cyber resilience.
Cyber Tec Security helps businesses become cyber resilient through expert guidance and tailored support. Don’t wait for a crisis to find out where your weaknesses lie. Get in touch with our expert team today and take the first step to robust cyber resilience.
