Every enterprise in the world, whether major brand or small business, faces cybercrime as a major threat. This growing challenge, and the cybersecurity innovations designed to thwart it, will be hallmarks of the coming decades.
Solutions will lie in greater investment in cybersecurity systems, and increasingly sophisticated innovations like secure digital identities and decentralized identity management.
The goal is to reduce the risk of losing large quantities of valuable data, and we achieve this goal in two ways: (1) improve defences, and (2) reduce the attack surface. While the first option is becoming an increasingly difficult arms race to win, the second has strong potential to offer longevity, solid return on investment, and efficacy. The strategy is: Don’t build a bigger barricade, become a smaller target.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology in the US makes it plain: ‘The likelihood of harm caused by a breach involving PII is greatly reduced if an organization minimizes the amount of PII it uses, collects, and stores.’
Internet users are clearly seeing the value in option 2: If you don’t hold the data, it can’t be breached. Already, more than half of adult Americans are declining to use a product or service based on their perceived risk to their PII. They want to be smaller cybersecurity targets, and they want the businesses they deal with online to do whatever it takes to make them so.
Because despite all the recent advances in cybersecurity defences, cyberattacks are growing more common, sophisticated, and successful:
- By 2021, the global damages bill from cybercrime is predicted to hit USD 6 trillion annually, double the 2015 figure.
- Globally, more than 80% of cyberattacks come from phishing emails, deliver 94% of malware, and cost victims USD 17,700 every minute.
- Attacks on Internet of Things devices (one of the fastest-growing emerging technologies) tripled in the first six months of 2019. Medical imaging equipment is most vulnerable to attack.
- Globally, data breaches cost enterprises an average of USD 3.92 million each year. The highest annual cost is in the United States.
- Malware attacks that leverage applications already installed on a system (known as fileless attacks) increased by 256 percent in the first six half of 2019.
It’s past time for option 2. Major enterprises and small businesses must recognize that unless they urgently find ways to be smaller cybersecurity targets, the costs could be enormous—to finances, reputation, customer safety, and brand loyalty.
At Anonyome Labs we offer solutions that reduce the attack surface for enterprises and consumers. Our scalable platform and products give businesses an easy way to engage, onboard and continually interact with their customers without collecting, managing, or risking their PII, and gives consumers greater trust in the entire system.
Photo by Ricardo Arce on Unsplash
