4 Long-Term Effects a Data Breach Can Have on Your Business #Infographic

The past year has seen several hard-hitting data breach headlines, which have drastically impacted numerous globally reputed organizations.

Following the 2020 California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has also forced many companies to enhance their cybersecurity practices.

However, these security compliance laws are not enough to prevent data breaches from taking place. In addition to these compliance laws, businesses must develop a security-first culture and use the latest technologies to safeguard their data against breaches.

These data breaches may arise from within the organization (i.e insider threats) or may take place because of a malware software or SQL Injection attacks.

The Data Risk in the Third-Party Ecosystem Study 2018 by the Opus and Ponemon Institute surveyed 1,000 risk professionals and CISOs across the US and the UK about third-party partners and suppliers and protection of shared sensitive data.

The study revealed some key insights:

• 59% of organizations said they have experienced a data breach caused by a third-party supplier or partner.
• More than 50% of professionals are unaware of whether the security measures put in place for managing third-party suppliers are adequate enough to safeguard their data.

The negative impact of a data breach on a business is quite clear; the company’s reputation is inevitably dragged down through the press and the damage this has on the company’s credibility and relationships with customers can be huge.

A 2017 PwC study that examined customer sentiment around privacy risk and cybersecurity found that nearly 92% of customers agree that companies must be proactive about data security and protection.

One data breach is enough to tarnish your customer relationships and have a long-lasting impact on your business’ integrity.

The first step on the road to better data protection is understanding the consequences of a data breach on your organization. The next step is to create an action plan that helps you prevent data breaches and empowers you with a plan that can be deployed quickly in case a data breach occurs.

Long after the initial impact of a data breach, there are a number of long-term effects that can cause potential damage to your business. These may include a decline in sales, revenue loss, data loss, and disruptions in functioning and operations. 

To give you a better understanding of how a data breach can have long-term effects on your business, here is a list of the most common effects you should know about:

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Aaron Cure is the Principal Security Consultant at Cypress Data Defense and an instructor and contributing author for the Dev544 Secure Coding in .NET course. After 10 years in the U.S. Army, Aaron decided to switch his focus to developing security tools and performing secure code reviews, penetration testing, static source code analysis, and security research.