How do you know your competitive edge is dull? It’s when your customers go elsewhere.
Cybercrime causes businesses to lose customers. When a customer’s sensitive information (aka PII)1 is stolen from a business, they quickly lose trust in that business and go elsewhere. What’s more, it can take weeks or months to recover your business systems after a major attack.
In 2023 we lost over $12 trillion to cybercrime
FBI
In today’s digital economy data is the new gold, and cybercrime is the extraction method.
In 2020 it was predicted that cybercrime would cost the globe $10.5 trillion dollars in lost GDP by 2025. Earlier this year the FBI confirmed that we have already surpassed these predictions, and that in 2023 we lost over $12 trillion to cybercrime. What is worse is the World Economic Forum is saying that cybercrime will cost the global economy $24.3 trillion by 2027.
Many cyberattacks are now automated, and those that are not, are targeted at organisations that are attractive and poorly defended. Increasing use of AI in cyberattacks means the days of spotting scams by bad spelling and grammar are now behind us.
Can you prove you are cyber resilient?
Our customers tell us that government procurement, regulatory bodies, funders, and businesses across New Zealand are starting to demand proof of a vendor’s cyber resiliency before they will consider them for future work. We know of businesses who have lost customers and bids because they were unable to provide proof that they are keeping sensitive information safe.
The Financial Market Authority (FMA) requires all New Zealand financial advisors to show evidence that they are proactive in keeping their customer information safe before they are certified. It is only a matter of time before other regulatory authorities do the same.
By 2027 we could lose $24.3 trillion to cybercrime
World Economic Forum
Can your customers trust that you are cyber resilient enough to keep their information safe? What would happen if you were to suffer a major attack and lost their information or their money to a scam?
Cyber-attacks can happen simply by a staff member clicking on the wrong email or browsing an unsafe website.
Cyber resilience is a philosophy of working. It is not a set and forget product. It requires investment, time, and effort. Your people, processes and technology must all be in alignment to achieve maximum effectiveness.
You have a decision to make
Whether you work with us or not, you have a decision to make today. If you consider an extremely near future where cybercrime has doubled from today, where cybercriminals are taking advantage of technological advances such as AI, there are three paths available to you…
Path one: Do nothing
Choose this path, and the gap between your protections and the level of cybercrime will continue to widen, making you more vulnerable by the day.
Path two: Be ad-hoc
You can take an ad-hoc approach to your investment in cybersecurity. On this path your investments will keep you at the same level of protection that you have now. But with cybercrime doubling by 2027 you will be going backwards in terms of your protection levels.
Path three: Become cyber resilient
Start your cyber resilience journey today. Cyber resilience specialists such as Outfox will identify the gaps in your people, processes and technology investments and ensure you understand where the business risks are, and how to plug them. Annual reviews will ensure that as your business changes and grows, you invest in the right things to ensure your cyber resilience stays strong.
And remember, cyber resilience is different from cybersecurity. Your Managed Service Provider or IT department might be helping you with cybersecurity, but they are probably not helping you with your cyber resilience. It’s great having firewalls and virus scanners, but what do you do when that technology falls short? This is where cyber resilience comes into play.
Make your decision
Today is the closest those three paths will ever be to each other for you. All you need to do is decide which path you want to be on.
- PII or Personally Identifiable Information is exactly what it says. Personal information about you, such as your full name, phone number, birth date, or other highly personal details. Cybercriminals can use PII for identity theft, and to make scams seem more realistic (e.g. “Dear Alice” as opposed to the generic “Dear subscriber”). ↩︎