Overcoming challenges in maintaining cybersecurity as a business

Cybersecurity is a pressing issue in the business world, affecting an increasing number of companies despite their defenses. According to Statista, about 63% of global enterprises experienced ransomware attacks, particularly in manufacturing, healthcare, and government facilities.

While this data shows a decrease in attacks compared to previous years, the trend remains worrying, given the rising threats to advanced technology. Technically, most companies can access the knowledge and tools to strengthen their security, but things are not that simple. Management often fails to recognize the actual level of vulnerabilities the company faces, ranging from poor employee training to underinvestment in cybersecurity.

Such challenges hinder a company’s potential to dive into growth opportunities and avoid further attacks, so let’s see how companies can overcome some of them.

Underestimating the importance of training

Proper employee training offers many benefits, including reduced risk and regulatory compliance. Unfortunately, many companies fail to provide such training to all new workers and to improve it by regularly updating it for entire teams.

But failing to provide proper training can lead to serious mistakes, including reusing passwords across accounts, mishandling sensitive information, and exposing the company to vulnerabilities. Thus, using a password manager for business and limiting access to data is a great start towards protecting it. This, when combined with adequate training, can help withstand attacks and related problems.

Employees must understand their cybersecurity role and be aware of responsibilities such as reporting accidental policy breaches. In addition, they must learn to identify data security threats, starting from email phishing to avoiding fake websites.

Disregarding the impact of artificial intelligence

AI is powering industries, enabling entrepreneurs to evolve their products and services more quickly and at lower cost. However, this tool can pose disadvantages if used incorrectly, and this is also due to the lack of research in cybersecurity. AI and machine learning can assist in:

• Gathering and preparing data and training models on curated datasets;
• Identifying malware, anomalies, and analyzing network traffic through classification and detection methods;
• Processing huge data sets for patterns that can link to weaknesses;

Still, AI can also be disadvantageous by:

• Requiring high implementation costs, especially for hybrid environments;
• Having adversarial attacks, such as data poisoning, extraction, and evasion patterns;
• Triggering ethical considerations due to behavior-based anomalies;

Every business should understand the implications of using AI within its processes and address challenges with caution.

Lacking proper management for access privileges

Excessive permissions that allow anyone to access data can be damaging, since people can make changes intended only for system administrators or for restricted use. Therefore, sensitive data is at risk of misuse or disclosure for various reasons, whether intentional or not.

The consequences of excessive permissions include:

• An increased risk of data breaches through exposing sensitive customer data to unauthorized parties;
• Compliance violations by failing to adhere to the GDPR, HIPAA, or PCI DSS;
• Reputational damage due to damage to the brand reputation and eroding customer trust;

Every business must prioritize cybersecurity by ensuring proper access management and permission to reduce the likelihood of misuse of access and security branches. Companies can access various solutions for access management, such as the following:

• Internal access management tools like IAM platforms, PAM products, or IGA services;
• External access management tools like CIAM (Customer Identity and Access Management);

Are some businesses more vulnerable to cyberattacks than others?

While small businesses are known to be more vulnerable to cyberattacks than larger companies, certain industries are more likely to become targets of hackers due to their data management practices, including but not limited to manufacturing, finance, and energy and utilities.

But some businesses struggle to prioritize cybersecurity due to:

• Not knowing the true costs of not implementing cybersecurity on time, as there are affordable and scalable solutions that can be tailored for business needs;
• Having a false sense of security, especially in the case of small and mid-sized businesses, which enhances their already weak security;
• Suffering from leadership and company culture gaps, leading to taking cybersecurity seriously only after experiencing such an attack;

What will the future of cybersecurity look like?

According to recent research, companies are increasingly investing in artificial intelligence to address cybersecurity, yet only 6% of brands can withstand a potential cybersecurity attack. At the same time, in addition to increasing investment in AI, businesses will also prioritize cloud, network, and data security.

At the same time, more attackers will leverage the benefits of AI to conduct attacks, so upcoming trends will cover innovative technologies reaching a turning point in company security, such as:

• Quantum computing algorithms and hybrid solutions;
• Management for provisioning, patching, and decommissioning for IoT and device proliferation;
• Security-aware cultures that enhance threat-intelligence sharing and public-private cooperation;

Finding the right responses to deepfakes, synthetic media, and identity deceptions will require companies to be prepared for biometric and identity-verification systems to be prone to spoofing, even when they are the strongest security measures. Given that cybercrime is increasingly targeting corporate-class businesses, companies can never be too prepared for attacks. That’s why making cybersecurity a strategic pillar for productivity and security is essential. After all, strong cybersecurity comes with numerous benefits, like:

• Eliminating the possibility for computers to slow down due to viruses;
• Inspiring customer confidence by ensuring data cannot be compromised;
• Avoiding the chance for the brand website to go down and lose money;

Adware, ransomware, and spyware will always be a real threat to business security, but AI can advance these threats, so developing a comprehensive solution against a diverse range of issues is non-negotiable.

Conclusion

Business cybersecurity is one of the most important yet underrated ways to protect the brand image. As certain risks are growing, such as the misuse of AI and ML, companies must prioritize this before becoming targets of hackers and cybercriminals. Therefore, overcoming issues such as inadequate employee training, insufficient data access management, and a disregard for the impact of AI can lead to damage for businesses that don’t take cybersecurity seriously in the era of rapidly evolving technology.