SBN

The Cloudfathers: The Latest Cybersecurity Findings For Fortune 500

Cloudfathers thumbnail-1

As areas of cloud computing, social media, e-commerce, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and infrastructure as a service (IaaS) are being explored and developed, the potential growth for leading tech organizations remains strong.

 

Interestingly, all of the top performing companies have one thing in common: they all collect and hold a vast amount of data for hundreds of millions of users. Consumer information is extremely useful for these companies as they seek to better understand their customers and find ways to improve. However, this sensitive and highly valuable data is also sought after by malicious threat actors that usually intend on exploiting it for their own purposes. 

Consequently, data has quickly become a highly valuable commodity, and with data breaches occurring at an alarming rate, cybersecurity has become a top priority for organizations. So why is it that over 38 percent of the 2019 Fortune 500 (190 companies) do not have a CISO (chief information security officer)?

What these companies fail to grasp is the severity of the repercussions that ensue once a breach occurs. One single breach can be detrimental for any organization. A recent study conducted by Bitglass on the three largest breaches from each of the last three years concluded that an average of 257 million individuals had their personal information compromised in each of said security debacles. These nine publicly traded companies all suffered an average of $347 million in legal fees, penalties, remediation costs, and other expenses. On average, they also experienced a steep decrease of 7.5% in stock prices, and major declines in overall market capitalization (an average of $5.4 billion per company). 

It should come as no surprise that neglecting cybersecurity measures can cost an enormous amount of money once the damage is done, and that the negative effects on an organization’s reputation are irreversible in many cases. Organizations must exhibit a prioritized dedication to cybersecurity in order to protect consumer privacy and, consequently, all of their stakeholders. 

Want to read more about our Fortune 500 cybersecurity analysis? Download the full report below.

The Cloudfathers


*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from Bitglass Blog authored by Juan Lugo. Read the original post at: https://www.bitglass.com/blog/the-cloudfathers-the-latest-cybersecurity-findings-for-fortune-500