Is the loss of reputation on the biggest cyber threats that a business faces today ?
A good reputation takes a long to build up but the emerging cyber threat landscape can ruin this reputation in a matter of hours. It is important therefore that businesses have in place a loss mitigation plan in place in order to manage this disaster case scenario.
One of the highest profile cyber attack in the UK was the data breach at TalkTalk where the long term consequences of this still being felt within the business today.
The impact on the reputation a business of a data breach
- Loss of existing customers
- Loss of confidence in the business
- Competitors exploiting the situation
- Share price of the business
- Loss of future earnings
- The stigma of a data breach
- The attractiveness of future investment in the business
- Attracting new employees
- Bad management of the data breach
Be Prepared
It is essential that the business has an incident response plan in place in order to manage the cyber attack and the ensuing fall out that will inevitably occur. This would include a crisis management and business continuity plan.
These should be regularly updated with “dry runs” carried out in order to ensure that they work effectively..
Cyber Insurance
This specialist form of insurance can help manage and mitigate a cyber attack at both the very early stages of a data breach and also help the business through the process. This is facilitated through the incident services that an insurer offers as part of the policy benefits . This includes public relations consultants and access to a solicitors so that sensitive data can be handled in the most effective manner.
The policy also provides coverage for reputational harm or business interruption coverage modules, typically this would encompass loss of profits and increased costs of working as a result of the data breach.
Policy wordings and intent vary considerably in the insurance market and it is therefore important that an insurance broker with a specialism in this area is utilized.
Image : Shutterstock