What are the costs and benefits of developing cybersecurity programs in business?

Developing cybersecurity programs is an important concept that all businesses should take into consideration if they haven’t already. That is because cybersecurity itself has become such a prominent field as of late. In today’s world, cybersecurity protects everything that we deem important in the online space. From personal information, health documents, tax documents, and so on and so forth. So, protecting our online assets from outside adversaries, whether human or not, is something that is of upmost importance to not only businesses but individuals as well.

There are several benefits to having a cybersecurity program installed for your business. That’s because you’re not only protecting your businesses’ information but also your customers. For instance, would you buy a t-shirt from a company if their website was corrupted, and your credit card information was potentially compromised? Personally, no. Cybersecurity programs will protect that information so not only will a customer return, but they’ll also return with confidence in your business and product. There are other pros to a cybersecurity program for your business as well. Simple things like a possible uptick in workplace morale because your employees don’t have to worry about a cyberattack, or even keeping your website from crashing are simple things that go a long way for your business.

However, to every yin there is a yang, and for cybersecurity programs it can be the cost of it for some businesses. Just to put how much cybersecurity programs mean to businesses in perspective, businesses spent an estimated $172 billion on information security and risk management according to csoonline.com. To break it down though, a business today will usually spend around $150 to upwards of $1,000 per month or more depending on the protection they need. Money isn’t only used to pay for protection though, it’s used to recover from cyberattacks as well. For example, if your business is attacked and customer’s payment information is stolen, you’ll have to compensate the customer for what they lost in some way, shape, or form. This means that a successful cyberattack can be devastating to a business. According to mdsny.com, a data breach can cost a company anywhere from around $120,000 to $1.24 million.