There are numerous costs and benefits of a business having a cybersecurity program. But there are some tangible costs as well as intangible costs.
The first tangible cost is much of the hardware, software, and manpower to institute a robust cybersecurity program can seem daunting. Specifically, for small businesses which are barely running off any net profit as they start out. Buying intrusion detection systems, secure servers, and other types of hardware come at a steep cost. And just like buying a new car, the new models come out every year with new updates. Once a vulnerability is found by malicious actors, vendors will ultimately come to the business to buy the new software update or whatever the vulnerability may have been. Some of these sales may be unethical but equipment does become essentially obsolete once cyber criminals find the cracks in the code – pun intended. But in order to maximize potential for all of the cybersecurity toys, a business has to hire workers that are experts in this field. That kind of manpower does not come cheap. I know plenty of information technology experts that have gone into lucrative positions after they’ve retired or even just separated from the US Navy. These individuals with knowledge on hacking, encryption, security frameworks, etc demand a high dollar for their efforts. The intangible cost, and sometimes the most important cost, is the reputation of a business. If a business is found to be lax with cybersecurity and has a major breach, a consumer may be reticent to buy goods and services. Companies like Tesla took a major hit to their bottom line when it was found employees may be a cyber threat to their vehicles by spying on drivers. Much less a smaller company that may not be able to take but one or two hits to their reputation before they are forced into bankruptcy. The benefits though are numerous. The single biggest benefit is if it stops a cyber threat, you can sleep well at night knowing your business is running. Even on a global scale, a robust cyber program could mean your systems can run 24/7 to adapt to a global economy.