Cybersecurity protection on laptop.
In this day and age of advanced technology, we have become increasingly reliant on digital tools and platforms in our work and personal lives. While technology paves the way for convenience and efficiency, it is marred by cybersecurity threats and the spreading of false information.
Thus, there is a growing demand for more cybersecurity professionals to tackle three main issues:
1. Financial Costs
Highly skilled cybercriminals hack financial institutions to make money. After the banks’ systems have been compromised, hackers use the bank’s credentials to send convincing SWIFT fund transfer requests to more established banks in other countries. In some cases, the receiving banks did transfer money to compromised banks since the requests were sent by legitimate partner banks via established channels. When it becomes too complicated to pull off large scale thefts, smaller banks with less sophisticated security systems in developing countries are targeted. Clearly, the financial losses due to theft and fraud shake the financial stability among financial institutions and their customers. This is why major international banks are willing to make big investments in hiring IT professionals for strong network defence, fraud prevention and transaction authentication.
2. Reputational Costs
Cybercriminals often target smaller businesses due to their size, industry and having small databases of personal information. They are considered prime targets for cybercriminals, as their security measures are likely to be outdated. This gives criminals an opportunity to deploy attacks with minimal effort as they are less likely to get caught. Small and medium-sized enterprises should be wary of the common network security breaches, such as stolen email accounts, ransomware scams and phishing scams. Due to a lack of cybersecurity awareness, business owners are forced to pay a hefty price in repairing the business and its reputation. Experiencing a loss of customer confidence is a major blow to the company, and it takes a long period of time to rebuild trust after a data breach. To minimise the risk of being targeted and addressing immediate attacks, it is recommended for companies to invest in a cyber insurance policy. The insurance plan normally includes loss mitigation services and incident response services handled by qualified cybersecurity engineers.
3. Regulatory Costs
Regulatory expenses involve fines for non-compliance with data protection and privacy laws on companies. The costs incurred would lead businesses to face serious consequences with customers and regulatory bodies. To understand what regulatory costs are, take the example of tech giant Google. In 2019, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) regulators issued a $57 million fine to tech company Google due to lack of transparency, consent and inadequate information concerning ad personalisation for its users. In the context of cyberattacks, it does get businesses into trouble with the law and being in debt. Settling fines for a data security breach is no small sum, not to mention, the attorney fees.
Overall, cybercrimes pose a serious threat to businesses, society and governments. Cybersecurity studies should be made available in every educational institution. It also provides graduates to take up cybersecurity jobs to tackle computer security risks and other forms of cyberattacks. At the global stage, there is an alarming demand for professionals in the field of IT and cybersecurity.
Interested in pursuing a career in cybersecurity? INTI International University & Colleges offers Computer Science and IT course programmes that equip students with a thorough understanding of the principles, theories and current practices in the Computer Science field.
Students will be exposed to knowledge specialisations associated with Industry Revolution (IR) 4.0 such as cybersecurity, Data Analytics and Cloud Computing.
For more information, kindly visit Computing & IT Programmes.