What are the costs and benefits of developing cybersecurity programs in businesses?
In order for businesses to ensure that their data and systems remain secure, there needs to be safeguards put in place through the development of cybersecurity programs. When it comes to the costs of these developments, the complexity and strength of them have to be in relation to the sensitivity of the data or the impact of a breached system. For example, a company that deals with credit cards or some other form of financial management should have high levels of security in place to protect that information. Most likely, this would cost much more to develop than a system meant to protect a company that deals with survey and other census data. The cost can also be determined by the size of the company. According to the article “Small Business Information Security,” small businesses typically don’t have the resources to invest in information security and due to this, cybercriminals see them as easy targets. To combat this and develop these programs, one needs to weigh the different costs based off a few categories. This would be the cost of revelation, cost to verify, cost of lost access, cost of lost work, fines and penalties, legal costs, reputation, and the cost to identify and repair the problem. You would use each of these to prioritize the information type that the company deals with, such as payment methods or tax data.