11 Apr 2022

Unlocking the Value Potential of your Cybersecurity Efforts

Guest Blog: Lucy Sempey, Digital Marketing Executive at Vaultinum, shares how businesses can further expand their cybersecurity efforts.

Last year, the worldwide cost of cybercrime reached $6 trillion USD.

To put this number into perspective, the 500 organisations that make up the Fortune 500 List (Apple, Amazon, Google, Exxon Mobil, etc.) generated a total revenue of $13.8 trillion USD in 2021.

This is a well-known reality to most businesses; however, many continue to exhibit dissonance between their perception of cyber-attacks as a top risk and their approach to managing it, with few recognising the potential of the value to be found within cybersecurity.

As a result, projections show that the growth in cybersecurity spend is slowing down, as company boards are questioning the efficiency of the cybersecurity process they have heavily invested in over the past years.

So now is the time for businesses to stop and re-evaluate how they look at their cybersecurity efforts and to realise that it’s not solely a technology issue to be solved by the CTO.

Value Creation

With the increasing digitalisation of our economy and society, a solid cybersecurity status is essential to create and preserve value. Cisco estimate that cybersecurity will drive $5.3 trillion in digital value at stake across private sector industries over the next ten years. A third of this ($1.7 trillion) is applicable to the protection of intellectual property and avoidance of data breach costs.

However, $3.6 trillion is dependent upon the ability of businesses to improve their cybersecurity practices to drive innovation and growth. Those who lack proper cybersecurity practices risk experiencing slower adoption of digital capabilities and falling short of their potential digital benefits.

Obtaining Partnerships and Securing the Deal

Following the increase in cyber risk arising from COVID-19 disruption, it’s the ideal time for businesses considering acquisitions or divestitures to re-assess their current risk profile and cybersecurity posture.

Cybersecurity considerations can mean the difference between M&A success or failure, with a study by (ISC)2 showing that 77% of respondents have made recommendations on whether to proceed with a deal based on the strength of the target company’s cybersecurity program.

Increasing Market Access Through Compliance

In recent years, the EU has placed a lot of focus on cybersecurity through the creation and coordination of new regulations, many of which have now become a condition to access the EU market.

At the beginning of this year, the European Commission announced that connected devices (including IoT) will soon fall under the EU regulations for radio equipment, giving IoT providers 2.5 years to adapt their products to comply with strict cybersecurity and privacy requirements to keep EU market access.

Tools to Improve Cybersecurity Practices

Given the rapidly evolving nature of the cyberthreat landscape, businesses need to have a cybersecurity program that is equally dynamic and adaptable which will continuously improve and adapt to tackle the latest threats.

The best way to gain a solid understanding of where you stand in terms of your cyber readiness, is to use a tool such as the Vaultinum Online Assessment solution.

The solution you choose should provide the following features:

  1. Analyse processes as well as infrastructure
  2. Be based on one of the international cybersecurity frameworks - ISO or NSIT
  3. Deliver a scoring with industry benchmarks to help you contextualise the results
  4. Provide a summary report including short and long term fixes

From these recommendations you can then start building a solid foundation that will both protect your organisation and drive value for your business.

Unlocking Business Value Through Cybersecurity Best Practices Webinar

If this sounds like something you’d like to know more about, you can now watch the replay of Vaultinum’s latest webinar for tips and best practices on gaining value from cybersecurity readiness.

This blog was originally authored by Lucy Sempey, Digital Marketing Executive at Vaultinum.