Though no one can predict the future, the pandemic has made for a rocky few years, and we can probably expect more turbulent times ahead. Of course, no business can avoid all effects of a possible economic downturn, but proactively future-proofing can help yours better weather the storm.
When it comes to technology, a sound cybersecurity strategy makes a difference to your bottom line. As budgets tighten and priorities shift, ensure your company invests in cybersecurity where you get the most return, both in protection and productivity. Password managers are essential to an effective cybersecurity program and should form the backbone of your strategy for preventing data breaches.
Sadly, cybercriminals don't care if the economy is up or down. Whether times are good or bad, they're looking for easy targets. Hackers want the greatest potential payout, typically for the least effort spent. Popular loot includes financials, personally identifiable information, or account credentials. And cybercriminals will exploit any weaknesses in your company's digital armor to get that valuable information. One of the most common ways they gain access: poor password management.
Passwords remain one of the weakest links in the cybersecurity chain. Because we typically rely on faulty human logic to create and remember passwords, those passwords are overwhelmingly weak, easily guessed, quickly cracked, and readily stolen. As a result, stolen and weak passwords are still the leading cause of hacking-related data breaches - a whopping 80%, according to the Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report.
It's hard to blame the employees. To do their jobs well, they want quick access to their digital tools. They don't want to fuss with long, hard-to-type, impossible-to-remember passwords and other security measures that will slow them down and lead to lockouts. Employees, of course, don't want to put the company at risk, but performing well every day is a more immediate, tangible concern than the hypothetical threat of a cyberattack. Unfortunately, even your C-suite and IT team aren't immune from making password-related mistakes.
The trouble is that data breaches are incredibly costly and can have devastating long-term consequences for a company. According to IBM's Cost of a Data Breach Report, the cost of data breaches reached an all-time high as of 2022, with a company spending an average $4.35 million in the aftermath. Of course, many factors can contribute to the cost of a data breach, such as legal fees, cyber forensics consultations, ransom demands, and new technology purchases. But there are many intangible costs, too, like lost sales, customer churn, disruption to employee productivity, and loss of third-party partnerships. According to one study, companies that experienced a breach underperformed the market by 15% three years later. Unfortunately, data breaches are costly both in the short- and long-term.
Companies shouldn't gamble with poor cybersecurity when customers are already more costly and more challenging to win over in an economic downturn. The potential damage to reputation and operations on top of the monetary loss of data breach remediation can be crippling. Moreover, depending on the industry, customers may not be willing to give a company a second chance after a data breach, especially if the company tries to pass off the financial impact to customers through higher service fees or product prices. After all, if cybercriminals hacked the company once, how can customers trust that hackers won't succeed again? And for a good reason; according to one study, two-thirds of companies that experience a breach are hacked again. Data breaches erode trust and credibility, which can exacerbate the impact of an economic downturn.
Regardless of the state of the economy, businesses need to implement a layered cybersecurity strategy to reduce the risk of a data breach and slow down cyberattacks. That means doing the basics well, cultivating a culture of cyber resilience at all levels of the organization, and removing human error from the cybersecurity equation wherever possible. Given the high incidence of password misuse in causing data breaches, companies need to invest in smart password solutions that automate tasks and provide control at the organizational level. Building a strong cybersecurity foundation with a password manager becomes even more critical in tough economic times when the stakes are higher.
A business password manager removes the pain of passwords and gives employees convenient access to their digital tools. As a result, they save employees time by eliminating forgotten passwords and account lockouts, generating and capturing hacker-proof passwords, and building strong password security into everyday workflows. Password managers also lower IT costs by standardizing security policies across the organization and reducing password-related help desk tickets. Lastly, they streamline organizational processes by automating onboarding and offboarding tasks and facilitating shared access to team resources without putting the company at risk.
Recessions can be scary, but so are data breaches. For businesses to survive bad economic times, leaders must focus on essentials and ruthlessly prioritize. When it comes to cybersecurity, prioritizing solutions for the most likely avenue of attack - via password mistakes - will help strengthen your security protocols and reduce overall risk. With a business password manager, you can ensure that every employee follows password security best practices and that every access point to valuable company data is protected. As a result, employees - including IT team members - can stay focused on value-add tasks as the company navigates these challenging times.
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