Cybersecurity: What It Is and Why Companies Should Invest

Brazil ranks as the second country in the world most affected by cyberattacks, according to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). And what does this mean in practice? Personal data (ID, CPF - equivalent to Social Security Number, credit card numbers, among others) are stolen and traded on the black market.

Not only the population but also companies are targeted by cybercriminals. To give you an idea, major companies like Uber, Maersk, and Equifax have already fallen victim to hackers.

In the information age, data is a corporation's most valuable asset and must be protected at all costs. But how can information security be ensured in the face of increasingly sophisticated attacks?

With all of this, it becomes clear that investing in cybersecurity is a great alternative for companies wishing to protect their systems.

Want to know more? Keep reading and understand what cybersecurity is and its importance for companies:

WHAT IS CYBERSECURITY?

Cybersecurity is a set of practices aimed at protecting equipment, systems, networks, and programs against cyber threats and unauthorized access. Its main objective is to preserve data processed, stored, and transported digitally, ensuring its integrity and confidentiality.

In the corporate world, cybersecurity has been a recurring topic because virtual attacks can compromise businesses: ranging from password theft to leakage of sensitive information, system interruption, and loss of brand credibility.

THE IMPORTANCE OF CYBERSECURITY

Due to the large number of employees, devices, and programs used, combined with the high volume of processed data, the importance of cybersecurity has been highlighted in corporations. It can help a company protect its data, customer information, financial and sensitive information, email history, passwords, files stored on the network, cache, among others.

Check out now the main advantages of investing in a cybersecurity policy for corporate environments:

Prevents financial losses

Data represents important assets for companies, as the more information a company has, the greater the possibilities of monetizing it and gaining competitive advantages. This means that data loss alone represents financial losses.

Many cyberattacks are also aimed at stealing banking information and perpetrating frauds. Not to mention ransomware attacks, which involve data hijacking and the demand for a significant ransom. Investing in a cybersecurity policy can prevent all of this from happening.

Detects problems in real-time

Real-time monitoring of company systems is another advantage of cybersecurity, as it allows threats to be detected even before they are materialized.

Through this monitoring, the IT department can also identify the need to update systems or find other solutions to automate company processes.

Preserves the company's image

You surely remember the leak of more than 220 million CPFs earlier this year, don't you? The information seemed to be associated with Serasa Experian, but the company denied involvement in the incident.

This is just one of many cases of companies that are daily victims of data leaks. These incidents directly impact a brand's image, generating mistrust among its investors and customers, as well as motivating legal proceedings.

It is essential for compliance with LGPD

With the aim of ensuring greater data protection, the General Data Protection Law (LGPD) institutionalized that companies follow legal standards for the treatment of information from customers, employees, visitors, suppliers, and third parties.

Therefore, a company that does not have an efficient cybersecurity model is subject to sanctions provided by law and infractions that can range from R$50 million to 2% of the company's annual revenue.

The fact is that a company that fails to comply with the LGPD loses points when closing a deal because no one feels secure in maintaining commercial relations with a company that does not adhere to the Privacy Law.

HOW TO IMPLEMENT CYBERSECURITY

Many business owners still believe that investing in cybersecurity is only essential for large corporations. Proof of this is that more than 25% of Brazilian companies do not have any security policy to help protect their data and operations.

Even though 75% have some action in this regard, it does not mean that they are effective since there are companies that only have domestic antivirus, for example, which is proven to be ineffective in this case.

There are some simple cybersecurity practices that can be adopted by companies that want to remain safe and free from threats. Some of them are:

• Employee training: raising awareness among employees is essential so that they do not compromise the security of the company's data.
• Migration to the cloud: Cloud Computing has advanced protection mechanisms based on Artificial Intelligence, as well as cutting-edge infrastructure to prevent cyberattacks.
• Constant backups: performing backups is indispensable for the company to have copies of its data.
• Adoption of cybersecurity tools: proxy, VPN, firewall, professional antivirus, anti-malware, among others, are alternatives to add greater layers of protection to the company.
• Contingency plan: contingency plans serve so that professionals know how to behave in the face of attacks, so they must be strategically elaborated to streamline decision-making.

Conclusion

As you can see, the efforts required to implement a cybersecurity policy are much lower than the benefits it has to offer: in addition to protecting a company's data, it also preserves its reputation and the sustainability of its business.

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