GUARDIANS OF THE BOTTOM LINE

Awareness
WHY IS HAVING A ROBUST CYBER SECURITY PLAN VITAL TO YOUR COMPANY’S SUCCESS?
Every day, companies are bombarded with increased threats, cybercriminals are constantly searching for ways to steal sensitive or personal information they can ransom or sell. Sometimes, it seems almost impossible to keep up, but that is precisely what you need to do. Your company’s information, reputation, and data depend on it. The following information will explain why having a robust Cyber Security Plan is vital to your company and why it should be a pivotal part of your organization’s Risk Management Plan.
Protection of Sensitive Information: Your company may have sensitive or personal information, including customer data, financial information, and intellectual property. This information is valuable to cybercriminals, who may try to steal and sell it, ransom it back to you, or destroy it to benefit your competitors. A Cyber Security Plan can help you protect your information from these threats and mitigate any residual risk of unauthorized access, use, or disclosure of your information.
Maintaining Customer Trust: Security incidents or data breaches can erode customer trust and loyalty. Customers expect you to protect their data and privacy, and to provide them with secure and reliable services. Creating a robust Cyber Security Plan demonstrates your commitment to cyber security and your respect for your customers. It also helps you to maintain a positive reputation and a competitive edge in the market.
Regulatory Compliance: Depending on your industry, location, and customer base, you may be subject to various compliance standards and regulations regarding data protection and cyber security. For example, you may need to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the European Union , the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in the United States , or the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) in Canada . A Cyber Security Plan can help you to comply with these regulations and to avoid legal consequences or fines.
Preventing Financial Loss: Cyberattacks can cause economic loss to your company in many ways, such as theft, fraud, extortion, or litigation. Cyberattacks can also disrupt your business operations, leading to downtime, lost productivity, and lost revenue. A Cyber Security Plan can help you prevent or reduce the monetary impact by implementing detection and prevention tools and risk transference practices.
Business Continuity: Cyberattacks can disrupt your business operations, leading to downtime, lost productivity, and lost revenue. They can also damage your infrastructure, equipment, or data, making it difficult or impossible to resume normal operations. A Cyber Security Plan can help you ensure business continuity by implementing recovery and restoration measures, such as backups, disaster recovery plans, and incident response plans.
Preserving Operational Integrity: A Cyber Security Plan is an essential way for a company to help maintain and preserve the integrity of its systems, networks, and infrastructure assets, preventing disruptions and ensuring service reliability.
Protection Against Insider Threats: Cyber threats do not always come from the outside, sometimes they can come from inside your company, whether intentional or unintentional. Insider threats can include employees, contractors, partners, or vendors who have access to your information systems, networks, devices, or data. Insider threats can cause damage to your company by leaking, stealing, sabotaging, or misusing your information or resources. A Cyber Security Plan can help you to protect against insider threats by implementing security policies, procedures, and training, as well as monitoring and auditing activities.
Managing Supply Chain Risks: Beyond your organization is the entire supply chain. Your company needs to ensure that your suppliers, vendors, and partners also adhere to their own Cyber Security Plan to prevent supply chain threats. Threats that could expose your companies’ data through their systems.
Having robust Cyber Security is essential to your company's Risk Management Plan. It is not only a technical issue but also a business issue, as it can help you protect sensitive information, maintain customer trust, comply with regulations, manage your company’s reputation, ensure business continuity, and much more. Creating and implementing a Cyber Security Plan for your company is not a one-time event but an ongoing process that requires commitment, collaboration, and continuous improvement. By following the steps outlined in this book, we can help you create a plan for your company that moves you towards achieving your cyber security goals and objectives.