Think about this: You insure your data center so that if a fire or flood ever breaks out, you will be covered financially. You have extra servers on hand, so that if your company has an unexpected spike in business you will have enough storage capacity on hand. And you regularly perform system updates to prevent downtime from happening.

Most of your job, in other words, involves preventative maintenance. You plan ahead and make strategic decisions so that you can avoid having to make snap judgments when issues arise.

And yet, your plan is to wait for a cybersecurity incident to happen before you invest in managed cybersecurity services. This is a bit like letting your toast burn, so that you can throw away the bread and start over with a fresh slice.

Here are 10 reasons to consult with a managed services provider (MSP) now instead of delaying the decision:

1. You are going to get hit: Here at Apex, we maintain that it’s not a matter of if your business is going to get hit but a matter of when. There are too many threats coming at your business, and from too many angles, to keep up. In fact, if you were to dig into your event log the sheer volume of security incidents would blow your mind. You could spend a year or more just analyzing an hour’s worth of event data. Hackers are constantly “knocking on the door” of your network looking for vulnerabilities to exploit. So waiting to see if your business will get hit in order to justify spending money on cybersecurity is just delaying the inevitable. It will only harm your organization in the long run.

2. You may not be able to recover from a data breach:  Don’t make the assumption that your business will be able to fully recover after a data breach. Sixty percent of small companies that experience a cyberattack go out of business in six months. Remember that there are two types of costs in a data breach: Direct costs (like the price of cleaning up the malware and removing it from your system), and indirect costs from things like lawsuits, lost customers and fines.

To that point:

3. Your business’s reputation will suffer: Even if your company weathers the storm and survives the breach, there may not be many customers left over to give you business. According to one recent study, 76 percent of respondents indicated they would take their business elsewhere due to negligent data handling policies. A data breach can directly impact consumer trust.

4. You could lose your job: You could wind up out of work following a cybersecurity incident, especially if your business lacks the necessary documentation for proving that you took the proper security measures to prevent one. This happened to the Target, Home Depot and Sony CEOs. And Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, for that matter, was recently denied a $2 million bonus and will forego her annual stock award following for the breaches that occurred on the Yahoo network in 2013 and 2014.  

5. There could already be malware on your network: You could just be delaying the inevitable by failing to take preventative cybersecurity maintenance on your network. There could already be malware embedded on your system, and you may just not know it yet. Hackers could have silently deployed the malware and could be waiting for the right time to release it. And you won’t know unless you dig deep into your network to find out.

6. You will be one step ahead of your competitors: You don’t want to be weaker than the business next to you. If your business can’t protect its data, rest assured: your competitors can. So if nothing else, having a robust cybersecurity strategy in place could be a competitive differentiator.

7. It’s not as expensive as you think: Managed service providers (MSPs) offer flexible pricing. Don’t let the cost of working with an MSP deter you from obtaining the protection you need! It’s much, much more expensive to undergo a data breach than it is to pay an MSP.

8.There is no telling what tomorrow will bring: Don’t make the mistake of underestimating the capabilities of today’s cybercriminals. Malware is more sophisticated than ever before, and new strands pop up by the day. You want to have a plan in place that can help you evolve with the changing cybersecurity landscape. Always be ready for an unexpected security event.

9. Other people are depending on you: It’s not just your personal data that you are protecting here. You’re responsible for protecting your business’s data, and all of its sensitive internal information. You’re also responsible for protecting your customers, and their financial, medical and personal information. A data breach can impact many different people, right down to the vendors that you work with. So make sure to take this into account.

10. It’s the right thing to do: Don’t give into cybercrime, and wait for an attack to breach your network before you take action. This is a losing strategy. Take action to protect your network now.  Stand up to cybercrime and make your business a difficult target for hackers. If your business is a difficult target, hackers will be apt to move on in search of weaker networks rather than spend time trying to breach yours.

Apex Technology Services offers a wealth of options for combating cybercrime. Apex can provide your employees with advanced cybersecurity training, as well as tools for detecting and eliminating threats. Apex can also provide your organization with auditing and documentation assistance, to prove compliance with your industry’s stringent regulations.

With the help of Apex Technology Services, your business will stand a much better chance of staying safe in during these tumultuous times.  

To learn more about Apex Technology Services, contact us today!

A new breed of hacktrepeneurs has awoken and they have little to fear and everything to gain by infecting as many companies as possible and extorting money from them. Apex Technology Services stands ready to protect your company regardless of whether it’s located in New York City; White Plains, New York; Connecticut; Australia; Europe; or anywhere else. Our full suite of cybersecurity and IT support services is at your disposal, enabling you to spend less time worrying about and more time growing your business.

To ensure your security, consider one of our most popular services — Auditing & Documentation — which pinpoints vulnerabilities in your infrastructure, process flow and internal security procedures.