Newsletter | Volume 1

Based on the results of the recent hacks, if the Board of directors and senior management wants job security, (most senior management, CISO BoD have been fired after the cybersecurity hacking. (E.g. Talk Talk, Ashley Madison, Equifax), therefore management must take a long-term approach to the investment in threat intelligence.

Stay competitive by prioritising strategic security measures with Threat Intelligence
Cyber threats, like malware attacks, have measurable damages whereas other attacks cripple the business operation on a larger scale with enormous costs and reputational damage. The hack at some multinational companies has cost billions of dollars as the entire administration, and data process was idle for some days, sometimes weeks.

The result of an operational shutdown is that competitors mainly benefit by getting the assignment or job from the customers without investing in its development?

High-end threat intelligence programs
Therefore, when the adverse effects of significant cybersecurity are known, it is somewhat tragic that a preventable data breach that sends the company's reputation on a downward trajectory is not addressed. The Boards and senior management are not paying attention and approve the investment in IT security because cyber hacks have increased 25-30 % for business and government in 2016.

The detailed implementation knowledge of the high-end threat intelligence programs was not even available in the past. Instead, people spied on competitors and helped themselves to useful data. Also, there were not as many substantial evidence on the targets and identities either as they are available today.

The results are as follows;

Threat intelligence is now a standard agenda item for proactive information security teams
Decision makers know that their investment in threat intelligence improves business decisions.
Real-time threat intelligence from makes the CISO’s jobs better, and the results are organized
Damages from a single incident cost SMEs is at an average of $38000.
Higher threat intelligence and breach detection make the corporation a less desirable target.
Creating a robust cyber-security program requires an investment in software, its configuration, and staff to monitor and respond to the alerts continually.
The cost of fixing the damages and consider the long-term losses of a cyber hack can be sustained by losing competitive advantage or the public's trust in your brand.

Management must try not to be overwhelmed by the excessive costs of IT and Cybersecurity. Instead determine the cash value of each of these charges. The average breach cost at a minimum USD 38,000 for each cyber attack:

Investigating each breach
Recreating deleted, sabotaged, or otherwise compromised assets
Increase in liability insurance premiums
Making restitution when personal data is exposed
Fines and other liabilities resulting from negligence. Watch out for GDPR fines
Lost production during the IT downtime
Labor and software expenses for cleaning malware from each workstation
Rising cost of fees extorted with ransomware with the rising value of the Bitcoin
Public relations experts to perform crisis communication and much more.