Cybersecurity is an issue for many organizations spanning across virtually all industries. Now more than ever, leaders need to focus on protecting their organizations from cyber attacks.
However, the cybersecurity professional shortage paired with the increase in cyber attacks is straining teams. Gartner predicts that by 2025 “nearly half of cybersecurity leaders will change jobs, 25% for different roles entirely due to multiple work-related stressors.”
Additionally, the cost of data breaches is increasing every year. IBM’s “Cost of a Data Breach Report 2023” states that the global average cost of a data breach is $4.45 million with the U.S. averaging the highest cost of $9.48 million.
In a highly competitive job market, you want to give your cybersecurity workforce a reason to stay. Investing in your workforce with on-the-job skills training will strengthen and further protect your organization and customers from cyber attacks.
The Rise of Cybersecurity Attacks
As more business and consumer information is stored online, cybersecurity attacks continue to rise ranging from data breaches and ransomware attacks to business email compromises and insider attacks.
The variability and increased sophistication of attacks is making it harder for cybersecurity professionals to do their jobs. As a result, many teams are forced to be reactive to attacks rather than proactively preventing and detecting them.
Without proper protection against cyberattacks, businesses are affected in many ways.
Major Ways Cybersecurity Attacks Impact Business
Cybersecurity awareness for all staff is essential to protect your organization from cyber threats. Below are the top reasons why cybercrime can hinder business today:
- Poor Reputation
When the public, including customers, learn about an organization’s security breach their trust in the organization decreases. This impact on an organization’s reputation can have a long-lasting effect. Customers lose confidence in the company and may even spread the information further to friends and family or turn to competition to meet their needs. The business suffers from a poor reputation without knowing how long it’ll take to restore its image to the public.
- Revenue Loss
Cyber attacks are costly for businesses. For example, healthcare is the top industry affected by cyber attacks, with an average annual cost of data breaches at $10.93 million. Depending on the organization, they may increase the cost of their goods or services to offset the revenue loss from a cyber attack. The added costs of cyber attacks can even force businesses to shut down.
- Business Disruptions
It takes time, effort, and money to deal with a cyber attack. IBM’s Data Breach report states it takes an average of 277 days to identify and contain a data breach. Within this timeframe, major business disruptions occur.
- Non-compliance
Businesses are required by law to reduce the risk of a security breach. When a business fails to adhere to privacy and data protection regulations it faces legal consequences such as fines and penalties, lawsuits, regulatory scrutiny, and even imprisonment of certain employees.
Investing in your workforce is essential to combat cybersecurity threats and the major ways they impact business.
Invest in Your Existing Workforce With Skills Training
To address the rise of cyber attacks and ensure your organization (and customers) are protected, you can provide upskilling and reskilling learning opportunities to employees.
The software company, Splunk, surveyed 1,520 security and IT leaders across 10 countries and 15 industries to publish their State of Security 2023 report. According to their research, 46% of leaders plan to increase the level of investment for training to mitigate talent challenges.
Training that results in skills-based certificates can result in higher pay for the employee and a higher return on investment for the employer. For organizations with shrinking cybersecurity budgets, investing in your workforce rather than hiring new employees could be best.
Partner With Emerge Education to Close the Skills Gap
Cybersecurity professionals are facing hard times and don’t foresee an end to their challenges. ISC2’s Cyber Workforce Study 2023 mirrors these concerns:
- 75% of cybersecurity professionals view the current threat landscape as the most challenging it has been in the past five years
- 48% believe their organization doesn’t have the tools and people needed to respond to cyber incidents over the next two to three years.
Skills gaps range from technical skills like penetration testing and detecting firewall breaches to non-technical skills like time management.
When you partner with Emerge Education to provide your current workforce with upskilling and education opportunities, you’re able to create a more agile workforce. Your employees will gain confidence in their skills with IT certificate programs such as:
- IT Security Specialist
- IT Security & Network Technician
- Ethical Hacker (PenTest+)
- Cyber Security Analyst (CySA+)
- Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)
If you’re ready to close your employees’ skills gap, then contact us today to learn more about our workforce training programs.
