Data breaches create disruptions to both workplace and employees’ personal life, reports Kaspersky
With the widespread COVID-19 crisis, data breaches are becoming increasingly common phenomena. This affects not only the organization itself but also its employees. The latest report from Kaspersky focuses on the negative impacts on employees post cyber attacks or data breaches. With the increase in cybersecurity breaches, it could lead to a spectrum of collateral damage – including a hefty fine for the businesses involved. For instance, on a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission, Equifax had to pay nearly $600 million as a fine due to a havoc breach in 2017.
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The report titled, “Taking care of corporate security and employee privacy: why cyber-protection is vital for both businesses and their staff” came up with some lesser-known facts. Data leaks are one of the most doomed parts of digital life. With one mishap, millions of people can have their personal data and information exposed to scammers.
The study highlights the “human side” of cyber-attacks and data breaches by analyzing the losses and stress people go through. As per the report, 30% of the IT security experts who are involved with the repercussions of cybersecurity incidents – missed up important personal events. Nearly 32% reported that they had to work overnight, 33% suffered additional stressors, and about 27% of the respondents had to cancel their vacations.
Generally, the work-related stress invades into employees’ work-life balance, motivation, and efficiency. About 76% of employees noted it impacts personal relationships, and the other 16% reported they even quit their on-going job due to the same. Thus, employers should consider the stress levels of employees – and more than ever, under the current situation, which is already stressful. All the professionals are working from home amid the Coronavirus outbreak, and they are struggling to maintain a productive work routine. And for businesses, stress can bring in an overall reduction in employee efficiency – which could affect their business performance and ultimately lead to monetary losses.
Alena Reva, VP of human resources (Americas) at Kaspersky as reported to have said, “When talking about corporate cybersecurity incidents, we often focus on the effect it has on business like financial loss, customer trust, and other corporate consequences, but there is another aspect to consider such as how employees deal with such cases.”
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Whenever a data breach takes place, the IT and security teams investigate the incident, do the necessary updates, and fix the system. In addition, they prepare the fixes and measures for preventing such attacks and ensure they are not repeated. In this essence, many managers had to work overnight or on weekends – nearly 33% for SMBs and 32% for bigger enterprises. As a result, other important tasks and deadlines are often pushed back of both SMBs by 27% and enterprises by 26%.
Hence, Alena Reva also cited, “It’s needless to say that additional stress at work or a disrupted work-life balance affects employee’s productivity and, even more critically, their mental and physical health. This shouldn’t be underestimated as these factors can affect business if staff members share their negative feelings outside the organization, impairing its reputation and brand as an employer. This can be especially critical for businesses that recently experienced a data breach as its wider reputation is already under attack.”
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