Why is Cybersecurity Important?
Cybersecurity is crucial because with 800,000 cyber attacks annually—where attackers remain undetected for an average of 2.24 months—industries like healthcare, IT, and retail face costly breaches averaging $4.45 million, primarily delivered via email (92% of malware), leading to massive financial losses including over $28 billion stolen through email fraud from 2016-2020, making protection of sensitive data such as PII, financial information, and intellectual property essential to prevent identity theft, fraud, extortion, and severe economic damage.
Here are the facts:
- There are 800,000 cyber attacks per year.
- The average amount of time an attacker has access to data before the breach is detected is 2.24 months (~9 weeks).
- Industries with the most cyber insurance claims:
- 1.Healthcare
- 2.IT and Communications
- 3.Retail
- 92% of malicious software is delivered via email.
- 4.45M USD is the avg total cost of a data breach (an all time high).
- $28B+ is the estimated amount stolen through email fraud from 2016 – 2020 with $150K+ avg loss per incident.
- The Worst Breaches in History
Why is Cybersecurity Important?
1. Protects Sensitive Data
If this data isn’t protected, it can be used by cybercriminals for identity theft, fraud, or extortion.
Types of sensitive data include:
- Personally Identifiable Information (PII)
- Social Security Number
- Biometric Data
- IP Address
- Financial Information
- Bank Account Numbers
- Credit Score
- Account Balances
- Intellectual Property
- Copyrights
- Trade Secrets
- Patents
2. Prevents Financial Losses
Both businesses and individuals can experience significant financial losses from cyber attacks. Not only could you lose money from fraud or paying ransom, you could lose the ability to effectively operate your business for an extended period of time.
3. Ensures Personal Safety
Employees are frequent targets of cyber attacks. Without cybersecurity, their personal information is at risk and an attack could have a major impact on their personal lives.