An Essential Guide to Cyber Risk Management – How to help your organisation become more cyber confident

Cybercrime, fraud, scams, hacking, ransomware, data exposure, these words have become an everyday part of the business lexicon. Cyber-attacks are no longer carried out by a kid in a hoodie. Instead, cybercrime is a big business venture with vast sums of money extorted from businesses of all sizes and sectors. Research into just how much money is stolen by cybercriminals show that the ‘business of cybercrime’ is worth around $1.5 trillion (1.28 trillion euros) per year; by comparison, Apple Ireland made 121.9 billion euros in 2020.

It isn’t just external hackers that a business must worry about. Accidental data exposure by employees adds risk to a business taking them into the territory of regulatory non-compliance and the kind of fines that make a business executive’s eyes water. Cyber risk is real, and companies need a robust and repeatable way to de-risk their organisation to prevent financial loss and reputation damage.

Taking on the levels of cyber risk that a modern business must deal with may seem like a daunting task. Tactics such as social engineering, allow fraudsters to delve deep inside an organisation by tricking employees into clicking links, navigating to malicious websites, or even sending money directly to a hacker’s bank account. Accidental data exposure adds to this risk. Cybersecurity risk management is no longer the domain of the IT crowd: mitigation of cybersecurity risk is an organisation-wide effort. In a collaborative approach to cyber risk, a business owner can turn a daunting task into a positive culture.

This guide looks at what factors compound cybersecurity risk and how to counteract these to de-risk your organisation.