The financial consequences of cyberattacks
- Iter Advisors
Contents
In the digital age, cyber attacks represent a growing threat to businesses of all sizes. The financial impact of these attacks is often devastating, both immediately and over the long term, affecting not only the bottom line, but also the reputation and trust of customers.
Direct costs: ransoms, repairs and business interruptions
Visit ransomware (ransomware) is one of the cyber threats the most costly for companies. Visit 2023the number of ransomware attacks has increased by 31with ransom demands sometimes reaching several hundreds of thousands of euros. For example, a medium-sized French company could spend close to 58,600 euros to respond to a cyber attack, including ransom coststhe system restoration costs and business interruption losses. A striking example is theattack against a hospital at France at 2023where the service was paralyzed for several days, costing not only thousands of euros in ransom, but also considerable losses related to essential services. On average, 34% of victims of ransomware in France are TPE, SMES or ETIwhich underlines the vulnerability of smaller structures in the face of these threats.Indirect losses: reputation, trust and litigation
Beyond direct coststhe cyber attacks can seriously damage the reputation of a company. For example, a ** leak of sensitive data** can lead to loss of confidence from customers and partners. According to one study, 61% of companies who have suffered an attack report significant commercial consequenceslike the production disruption or the loss of sensitive information. A textbook case is that of a large company from financial services at Europewhich has seen its reputation ternie after a massive attack exposing personal data from thousands of customers. The consequences did not stop there: the company had to deal with several legal remedies and heavy regulatory finesfurther aggravating its balance sheet.Statistics and recent trends
According to a study by Cloudflare, 72% of companies who have undergone cyber attack over the Last 12 months the financial losses over 940,000 eurosand nearly 28 % of them report losses of at least 1.88 million euros. This trend is reinforced by the increasing number of attackswith a one-third of companies suffer at least one attack each year, with some being attacked every year. 6 to 11 days. Visit most common threats at 2023 include the phishingthe DDoS attacks (distributed denial of service), and false transfer ordersthe latter having increased by 63 in a single year. Faced with these growing threats, 61% of companies plan toincrease their cybersecurity budget in the next 12 monthsalthough the majority feel that their leaders do not yet fully understand the importance of modern security architecturessuch as the Zero Trust.Conclusion
Visit cyber attacks constitute a major financial risk for companies, combining significant direct costs to indirect losses in the long term. As the number of such attacks continues to grow, it is imperative for companies toinvest in measures to robust protection and adopt an approach proactive for cyber security. Ignoring these threats could not only cost million eurosbut also jeopardize the durability of the company. Key points summarized :- Ransomware and other cyber attacks cost an average of €58, 600 per incident in France.
- The impact goes beyond immediate costs, affecting reputation and customer confidence, and leading to costly litigation.
- 72% of attacked companies estimate losses of at least 940,000 euros, with an increasing trend in attacks every year.
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