We know that security is far from a small investment, but this only serves to highlight how important it can be to your business’ continued success. You might wonder why security is such an important investment if you don’t intend to suffer a data breach, and that’s precisely the point. The cost of not investing in security far outweighs the initial investment.
Data Privacy Can Be Extremely Costly
Any business that handles the data of others will be subject to specific standards and regulations that could potentially lead to immense fines in the event the data is not properly protected. It doesn’t matter how small or large your business is; it can and will be at risk of security breaches if you don't take appropriate action to protect your infrastructure.
Other problems that could result from a data breach include a loss of reputation and a loss of clientele, the impact of which could be significant in combination with the other factors. A data breach is merely the beginning; you stand to lose so much more than just the data stolen or compromised.
Why are Breaches So Expensive?
Let’s use an example to showcase just how expensive a breach can be for a medical clinic. If your clinic suffers a data breach, the data you have collected for your patients, including sensitive information like medical histories, personally identifiable information, financial details, and so on, is at risk and potentially stolen.
Your troubles begin there. Your patients, seeing you as someone who cannot protect their data, will take their business elsewhere. Others who seek services will take note as well, causing further loss of service. Additionally, regulatory bodies will investigate and hit you for noncompliance fees. You’ll be expected to pay those, and you might even be monitored in the post-breach period as well to ensure compliance.
Keep in mind we haven’t even discussed how you might keep operations in check without that critical data. You might suffer downtime, leading to further costs associated with the breach.
Investing in Security Can Pay for Itself
At the end of the day, it pays to have security measures in place to prevent these kinds of expenses and fines. Nobody plans for a worst-case scenario like the one outlined above, and massive expenses that result from it will knock your budget out of whack for quite some time. On the other hand, security services that can prevent these types of breaches are budgetable and planned for. A little foresight now can help you in the long run.
It’s more affordable than ever before to take advantage of the requisite IT services. They are no longer large sums that are hard to fit into a budget—they are now affordable monthly payments that can be purchased “as a service,” or predictable monthly payments that are easily budgetable for. It effectively takes what has traditionally been a capital expense and transforms it into an operational cost.
To start taking security seriously, be sure to contact Data Net at (760) 466-1200.
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