Security issues have long plagued businesses and last month the true extent of the problem became alarmingly apparent. In light of recent security breaches, it seems no business is safe from the growing cyber-threat. As international tensions rise, are businesses ready for battle?
Already in 2013, there have been a number of hacker attacks targeting high profile victims including Twitter, Facebook and Apple. A report from Mandiant, an information security specialist, suggested that Chinese state-supported and military organizations could be behind these attacks. However, China is not the only nation that has been ousted as a threat: concerns are also growing over Russia’s cyber-activity and there is even some concern from Europe regarding America’s intrusive data policies. Given the international scale and complexity of today’s modern organization, businesses could well find themselves on the frontline of a virtual ambush.
Cyber-threats are fuelled by a vast array of motives and the strategies cyber-vigilantes adopt to carry out their attacks are mindboggling. Data theft is just the tip of the iceberg as hackers attempt to gain economic and financial gain, destroying the victim’s business reputation in the process. All functions of an organization could be targeted so businesses should be on high alert.
Take for example the supply chain: a security breach could result in server down time, a denial of service situation or complete system failure. Such an event would be hugely disruptive and could potentially have significant associated costs. Furthermore, any downtime would restrict the organizations ability to meet customer expectations. Hence, it is vital supply chain managers consider data security a top priority.
In previous blog posts we have explored security concerns around the topic of cloud computing. Our most recent survey highlighted how business anxieties have hindered the uptake of innovative technologies. While some may perceive traditional on-premise solutions as the safer option, these perceptions are false: onsite servers face equal if not greater levels of risk from cyber-threats. For example, to achieve security levels that match those of Microsoft’s cloud services, where data is subject to rigorous security protocols and periodic hacker attack simulations, businesses would face great expenses perhaps beyond their accesible resources.
In the face of an impending cyber-war, business should put their anxieties to one side and take a proactive approach to defend their core processes. Although new technologies such as cloud computing may not guarantee absolute safety, cloud service providers undoubtedly offer some of the best defense available.
Hiding from the reality of these mounting cyber-threats is not an option as failure to take evasive action now could result in significant damage if an attack strikes. Organizations should prepare themselves through implementing innovative technologies that stay one step ahead of the enemy.
