When you think of smart investments, you might picture real estate, stocks or the newest technology startups. But there is a different kind of investment that provides both immediate and long-term rewards: cybersecurity. This investment is essential to protect businesses from costly cyberattacks, and it helps them avoid costly fines and losing customers’ trust.

As digital transformation transforms business operations of companies, they generate and manage an ever-growing volume of data. The data has to be handled across complex computing environments. These environments are routinely spanning cloud, enterprise data centers and numerous connected devices such as Internet of Things sensors and robots. This increased complexity results in a greater risk of attack which makes it more difficult to protect important information from loss or compromise.

In addition to the financial costs, data breaches can damage the reputation of a company and result in long-term losses in sales. Recent research revealed that the average cost for a data breach was $4 million. This is a huge impact on any company. Additionally, laws like the California Consumer Privacy Act and the General Data Protection Regulation impose harsh penalties on companies who don’t adhere to strict security standards.

In today’s booming economy having a solid cybersecurity strategy is crucial to gaining traction. A pound of prevention is worth a pound cure, and it’s more economical to invest in preventative measures rather than having to pay for cleanup and recovery following an incident. By implementing the appropriate technology and tools, companies can ensure that their data is safe in transit, at rest and in the middle with the help of encryption and making sure that the human firewall is in place and conducting regular deep checks.

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