It's unfortunate that so many companies only take cybersecurity seriously when something goes wrong – but that's often the case. A breach of customer data acts as the catalyst for better systems and processes to be implemented, but that doesn't undo the damage already done. It's a reactive measure rather than a proactive one.
Your company doesn't have to be like that. You can learn from the stories of others and take steps to get your cybersecurity in check so that you can avoid these nasty situations. And to illustrate this point, let's look at a major breach identified late last year.
Magento Breach
In the lead-up to Black Friday last year, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) set out on a mission to help retailers avoid cybercrime threats during one of the busiest shopping periods in the year. In all the commotion that comes with this retail extravaganza, opportunities abound for malicious actors to get in and steal valuable credit card information. The Active Cyber Defense Programme attempted to get ahead of this and help retailers protect their customers' data.
Sarah Lyons, deputy director for economy and society at the NCSC, had this to say: "We want small and medium-sized online retailers to know how to prevent their sites from being exploited by opportunistic cybercriminals over the peak shopping period. Falling victim to cybercrime could leave you and your customers out of pocket and cause reputational damage."
This was quite prophetic as just a few days later they discovered a significant security vulnerability in the code of the popular e-commerce platform Magento. Upon further investigation, the NCSC discovered that some 4,151 retailers had been compromised, and hackers had been able to steal credit card information for thousands and thousands of customers.
The hackers were doing this by exploiting vulnerabilities on checkout pages and diverting payments to their pages where they could capture the confidential credit card information themselves. The NCSC found, in many cases, 18 months' worth of breaches that were immediately reported back to the retailers in question.
This undoubtedly came as a shock to these companies and prompted many discussions across industries about how cybersecurity needs to be more of a priority. We live in a world where cybercrime is rapidly increasing and cannot be ignored anymore. Research from Cybersecurity Ventures suggests that the financial damage alone will rise to $10.5trn by 2025. This is a staggering figure and one that shows just how rapidly these risks are accelerating.
However, it's important to note that we should be worried about not just the financial damage. Perhaps more importantly, customer data breaches can degrade the trust you've built with your stakeholders, making it very difficult to regain that reputation once again. It only takes one breach to destroy all the good work you might have done growing a successful and
well-regarded brand. A breach can become an existential risk for an organization if you're not careful in the next to no time.
This is not meant to fearmonger, but to reinforce how much of a high priority cybersecurity needs to continue to be for your business. And if you can learn from the mistakes of others, you can ensure that you never find yourself in a similar situation.
How Can Consolidated Communications Help?
If you're looking for a professional partner to help ensure your cybersecurity needs are met, then look no further than us here at Consolidated Communications. We're experts in delivering the most advanced communications solutions to move your organization forward. Our proven fiber network reliability is the foundation for the very best in highly flexible, cost-efficient, and scalable managed solutions. We pride ourselves on being at the forefront of what's happening when it comes to cybersecurity. You can leverage our experience and expertise with the retail industry to do what's best for your customers and employees.
If this is of interest, be sure to get in touch today, and let's see how we can help!