Is your family business at risk of a cyber attack?

The impact of a cyber breach on your family business reaches far beyond the financial impacts that are regularly reported in the media. Research by the Ponemon Institute found that on average, in 2020, it took businesses 280 days to identify and contain a data breach.

Think about the impact that could have on your family brand, reputation, and long-term value.

With the move to remote working for many, cyber attackers have taken the opportunity to develop more sophisticated techniques for harvesting user credentials via phishing-based attacks with the aim of being able to access your company’s information and sensitive data. A cyber breach not only comes with a significant financial impact from recovery operations and regulatory fines, but the reputational damage and work hours required to contain a cyber breach will further increase the potential damage and put significant strain on resources and trusted relationships.

Privately owned and family-owned businesses are prime targets for cybercriminals, as they will often exploit those who do not have dedicated IT staff, have a lack of cyber awareness, or complacency from those who consider themselves too ‘small’ to be attacked. In the eyes of a financially motivated cybercriminal, all data has value and can be sold for vast sums of money on the dark web to other cybercriminals who may then use that information to further exploit or extort an organisation.

What impacts, other than financial, can be expected from a cyber-attack?

• Loss of data: cybercriminals are often financially motivated and will seek to steal your company’s sensitive information. This information can then be used to extort your organisation for ransom payments or sold on the dark web for large sums of money.
• Loss of service: with phishing attacks on the rise, ransomware attacks are also becoming more prevalent. The mass encryption of company information can bring a halt to business operations while data recovery takes place and prevent core services being provided to customers.
• Long recovery times: being able to quickly identify and contain a cyber breach is challenging when attackers are trying to stay one step ahead. Significant technical and personnel resources are often required as part of incident recovery operations.
• Reputational damage: experiencing a cyber breach can have varying degrees of reputational impact for your organisation. Most importantly, this reputational damage comes in the form of losing the trust of your customer base and putting future sales at risk.
• Sale of a business: a history of cyber breaches can negatively impact the future sale and ultimately the valuation of a business as this is an indication of poor security hygiene and weak security controls. A potential buyer may look to price chip to offset the costs of remedial work or withdraw from the sale entirely if the risks can’t be managed effectively.

How can Family Businesses reduce the potential impacts?

• Phishing is one of the most common methods for attackers to gain access to your data, so conducting simulated phishing exercises to see how staff respond to suspicious emails or links can be a good way to identify if your staff require additional user training – you will be surprised how easy this form of attack is!
• Ensuring that multi-factor authentication is used when accessing company resources; this can help protect your information if an attacker does harvest user credentials and can help prevent opportunist style cyber-attacks.
• With responding to incidents being a costly business expenditure and capability, it may reduce recovery times and costs to procure an incident response retainer service where you can request rapid assistance from a specialist organisation to help you in a cyber breach scenario.
• With digital advancements exposing new attack methods, external validation and assurance on your cybersecurity posture can be a great way to get a baseline of your cyber maturity, develop a roadmap, and implement changes where you are most at risk.

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If you need help understanding if your current training and systems are fit for purpose when it comes to cybersecurity and protecting your family business, please contact us through the form below.

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