Just Like Icebergs

Don’t ever underestimate the damage of cyberattacks.

- Eric Lam

Many business and IT leaders I have spoken to agree that technology is a disruptive force – enabling new business models, opening new sources of revenue and shaping entire industry landscapes. However, one of the biggest challenges in digital transformation is ensuring security, privacy, and compliance. As people bring in devices, apps, and data into organisations, protecting company data requires rethinking.

With traditional IT boundaries disappearing and adversaries finding new targets to attack, organisations face the risk of significant financial loss, damage to customer satisfaction and market reputation – as has been made all too clear by recent high-profile breaches.

The Iceberg Effect of Cybersecurity

Attacks Although business and IT leaders are mostly aware of cyber-risks, what’s interesting is that they often underestimate the business and economic impact of a cyberattack. I like to use the analogy of an iceberg to describe the economic loss caused due to a cyberattack. Just like the iceberg which sank the mighty Titanic, cyberattacks can be vastly bigger than what most leaders can imagine.

Recently, we partnered with leading IT analyst firm Frost & Sullivan to map the impact of cybersecurity threats for businesses in Asia Pacific. The Study, titled “Understanding the Cybersecurity Threat Landscape in Asia Pacific: Securing the Modern Enterprise in a Digital World”, examines the financial impact of cybersecurity in this dynamic region.

In this study, Frost & Sullivan has segmented the total economic loss from cybersecurity attacks into three key categories:

Direct Loss: Losses directly associated with the cyber breach and its immediate aftermath;

Indirect Loss: Opportunity cost to the organisation, including losses that emanate as a result of trailing responses to the breach; and