What are the costs and benefits of developing cybersecurity programs in business?

Protecting information in business is extremely important whether it is securing transaction files or customers identities. So having access to cybersecurity programs in the workplace is very beneficial to a business who wants to maintain their integrity with their clients. However there are many costs involved with applying cybersecurity programs. First a company must decide what program fits their cybersecurity needs and then be willing to pay for the setting up of the system. So first they would need to buy the system and all the equipment that is involved and then teach the employees how to implement the system. Lastly the company must continue to maintain their program by updating their equipment and constantly teaching their staff.

According to Atlantic-it.net small businesses “spend 10 percent of their annual it budget on cybersecurity and about 2,700 on average per full time employee” so if your “business has an IT budget of 3 million you’ll likely spend 300,000 on cybersecurity costs.” Some other estimated costs include endpoint detection and response, vulnerability assessments, firewalls, two factor authentication, web application assessments, and email security. For Endpoint Detection and Response a business should expect to pay “9-18$ per server per month” and this helps to stop hackers by detecting malicious behavior. Vulnerability assessments can run a small business with 1-3 servers about $1,500- $6,000 and a larger business with 5-8 servers up to $10,000. Firewalls are very important to protecting information and can cost as low as $400 and up to $6,000. Web application assessments test web pages to assess vulnerabilities and average around $4000 -$8000. Finally, email security protects a company from being attacked by malware threats and can cost “$3-$6” per employee or user. These are just the start of the benefits companies can have access to when they search for cybersecurity programs that can fit their company. Cited material- (https://www.atlantic-it.net/cybersecurity-costs-for-small-businesses/#:~:text=On%20average%2C%20companies%20spend%20around,spend%20%24300%2C000%20on%20cybersecurity%20costs.)