More businesses report reputational loss as cybercrime reports spike
The impact of cyber incidents goes beyond financial, new report shows.
Incidents of cybercrime are on the rise and businesses are hurting, according to the latest report released by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). Between July and September 2024, the number of cyber incidents impacting organisations went up almost 70% compared to the previous quarter.
“This quarter we’re seeing the wider impact of cybercrime. Financial loss is just one of the many effects,” NCSC Director Mission Enablement Michael Jagusch said. The NCSC received reports where other types of losses occurred, such as reputational damage, data loss and operational impacts. For example, the time, staff and resources spent on recovering from an incident.
Most notably, the number of incidents reporting reputational loss almost tripled.
“It takes years for a business to build its reputation. If your email is compromised, or if any information you hold is lost in a data breach, it can be hard to win back the trust of your customers,” Jagusch said.
Overall, the number of incidents reported across Aotearoa by organisations and individuals went up from 1,209 in Q2 to 1,905 in Q3. Reported financial loss dipped from $6.6 million to $5.5 million. “Small and medium businesses don’t have the resources to dedicate to damage control like some larger organisations do,” Jagusch said. “Which is why is it so important to make your business more cyber resilient.”
The NCSC recently released a video series to help make businesses more resilient to online crime. The series is free and can be accessed online.
Read the NCSC’s Cyber Security Insights report for Q3 2024.(external link)