Four Tips for Capitalizing on Security Posture to Expedite Business Growth

Cybersecurity is often cited as a minefield for businesses, and while this cliche remains true, it has become slightly outdated. Thanks to the expansion of the digital world, navigating the cybersecurity minefield has become virtually impossible. For every mine that explodes, ten more threat bombs are put in. 

According to a University of Maryland analysis, a hacker attack occurs on average every 39 seconds. Unfortunately, these hazards cannot be avoided; instead, they must be dealt with through a well-coordinated approach to safeguard sensitive information and defend systems from intrusions.

Additionally, many businesses have had to adapt operations due to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak and the uncertainty it has caused. To this end, technology enabled remote working, powering  new cloud services, changing firewall settings, and firing up new VPNs. But with each new innovation internet exposure and risk was increased.

However, it’s not all doom and gloom. Cybersecurity can not only support organizational objectives, but it can also function as a business enabler that speeds up development. Here are four crucial ways that advancements in cybersecurity may promote business growth.

1. Appease Customers and Potential Investors

According to a survey by Capgemini’s Digital Transformation Institute, 77% of customers rank cybersecurity as the third most important factor when selecting a retailer and products. Additionally, customers would generally be more satisfied, and 40% would increase their online spending by 20% if they felt trusting of an online retailer.

Nowadays, customers have high expectations for how their vendor network should handle cybersecurity. If you demonstrate that you have a cybersecurity plan and mission statement in place, it can give a clear message to your consumers that cybersecurity is vital. 

Many growing and new firms will be aiming for some sort of exit strategy when searching for investment. If you deal with private equity companies, you could be required to do cybersecurity due diligence audits on prospective acquisitions. When a private equity company cannot verify appropriate cybersecurity policies, it may influence the sale price or the entire purchase.

2. Visual Indicators for Further Customer Confidence

Visual safety cues greatly influence the feeling of security, and this perception of security may help you become more profitable overall. One helpful method is installing SSL/TLS (secure sockets layer and transport layer security) certificates to improve security and build user confidence. 

SSL/TLS certificates are used to authenticate a website, domain, or organization and establish an encrypted connection while displaying the appropriate security indicators (padlock, a green bar, etc.) on a user's web browser.

3. Stopping Attacks to Prevent Losses

A ransomware attack has the capability to halt a business in its tracks and potentially finish them altogether. According to research firm Cyber Ventures, the cost of ransomware attacks could reach $265 billion globally by 2031. The reality is that most businesses simply cannot afford a breach. And, if these businesses can't figure out a means to avoid attacks right now, they may cease to exist even to face future threats.

4. Avoid Downtime and Save Your Bottom Line

The average cost of downtime, according to Gartner, is $5,600 per minute, or $336,000 per hour. Most businesses might be able to afford the expense of a brief outage without it having a significant effect. However, if that downtime lasted 12 hours on average, your income would be considerably affected by that length of downtime—something to the tune of more than $4 million . This kind of damage can often drive small to medium-sized businesses to close their doors within a few months.

By maintaining an up-to-date incident response plan, IT disaster plan, and business continuity plan (BCP) and testing your data backups, you can ensure that you have the personnel, tools, and procedures to restore your IT systems after an emergency.

While having a solid security posture is crucial for your company from an IT security point of view, it's also clear that it's critical from a financial standpoint. Enhancing your cybersecurity posture and explaining how you have done so will help you win over more customers' trust and confidence, which can lead to more sales and income. This shift in perspective gives your company a strategic new way to grow profitability rather than merely cutting costs.

- By Taylor Hersom, Founder and CEO of Eden Data