In today’s digital world, data is the lifeblood of businesses. However, many business owners lack a serious strategy for protecting their valuable data. The impact of a data leak is not a trivial matter. To understand the consequences to a business, Manufacturing Matters Magazine spoke to Paul Heigham from Bellingham IT.
“Knowledge is power,” says Paul. “If your company’s private information is leaked, you are exposed to criminals leveraging that data against you.” On average, two-thirds of businesses experience at least one cyber attack every year.
“For your business to be exposed, cyber attackers only have to get lucky once”
Paul Heigham, Bellingham IT
Paul explains: “Losing your own company data can seriously compromise your operations, but losing customer or other third-party information is a nightmare scenario for many businesses. “I can’t give legal advice on how much an external data breach could cost in fines and court fees, but I know the costs to business function. In my line of work, we see it time and time again.”
Legal costs and brand destruction aside, a data breach itself becomes an obstacle to business. “If you’re fighting IT-related fires, you’re not fulfilling contracts. These issues become complex and time-consuming, so your output will suffer,” Paul warns.
Downtime means you’re not providing goods or services when promised, so customers have every right to go elsewhere and are unlikely to come back. “If you’re lucky, you’ll end up with a backlog delaying orders, but in a bad case, you could simply have an empty order book,” Paul notes.
Manufacturers: If you want to avoid that empty order book , contact Paul Heigham from Bellingham IT at [email protected]
The post What Are the Long-Term Consequences of a Data Leak? appeared first on Manufacturing Matters Magazine.
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