As companies now face threats from every angle—foreign, national, and internal—there seems to be a “who, me?” attitude when it comes to security. Many companies handle security incidents in a hush-hush manner, quietly sweeping these all-too-common occurrences under the rug, hidden from the public.
A breach in data can seriously damage the reputation of a company, whether a startup or a well-established business powerhouse.
Ask Coca Cola, the multi-billion dollar giant that got attacked by state-sponsored Chinese hackers in 2009, only to be exposed three years later.
Fear of a damaged reputation, or in many cases worse, damaged stock prices keeps several enterprises from coming clean about the true status of their information security.
In some situations, withholding this type of vital information could be illegal for publicly traded companies. Since it information security is kind of more of an integrity issue than other costly losses, such as physical matters like a burglary or a burning building, companies may be more embarrassed to get it out there in the open.
The problem is, when companies keep quiet, important issues are halted from taking center stage. Openness in the area of cyber security could help other businesses and the government to implement policies to prevent other intrusions. As demonstrated by recent attacks on huge companies and government agencies, attacks are becoming more serious in size and cost, as well as coming from more sophisticated sources. President Obama’s executive order was created to take a step in the direction of transparency and overall higher security.
The hope for cyber security in 2013 is that companies not look at security breaches as embarrassing secrets, but as opportunities to learn and improve upon security measures, which will enable America to collectively become more secure.
Unfortunately, no amount of openness and improvement can make an enterprise completely vulnerability-free. Find the right professionals to secure your business’s critical assets through Tiro Security. Contact us to find out about our Executive Search options.