Why do Cyber Attacks Happen?

Businesses and organizations of all sizes have key assets or data thus making them potential targets to cyber attacks. By understanding the motivations behind various cyber crimes or attacks, you are at a better position to know the risks that your business may face in order to set up efficient measures for prevention. In this article, we will look at the various motives that drive attackers (unethical hackers) to perform cyber attacks against organizations or businesses.

What is a cyber attack?

A cyber attack is a malicious and deliberate attempt by an individual or organization to breach the information system of another individual, an organization or a business. Cyber attacks in Kenya and globally at large, increase every year with attackers seeking some type of benefit from disrupting the victims' networks.

Reasons behind cyber-attacks

There are various reasons why cyber attacks occur. Most attackers are usually motivated by the following:

-Financial Gain- Most recorded cases of cyber attacks are for financial gain. Cybercriminals focus on attacks such as phishing or ransomware, to gain access to credentials and use them to make unauthorized transactions.

-Hactivism- In the aim of making a social or political statement.

Espionage- Spying on competitors to steal information for unfair advantage. This has also been seen among rival nations or countries.

"There are two types of companies: those that have been hacked, and those who don’t yet know they have been hacked."

Impact of a cyber attack on business and organizations

A successful Cyber Attack on your business or organization can cause major damages to your business. The Impact of cyber attacks can be categorized into three main factors names:

Financial/ economic loss- Businesses or organizations substantially lose costs associated with theft of actual money, financial or intellectual information or business contracts.

Reputational damage- Trust is essential to building long lasting customers, suppliers, partners or funding parties. A cyber attack damages this trust leading to loss of relationships and thus reduced profit and value.

Legal consequences- Data protection and privacy laws require you to manage the security of all sensitive data held within an organization or business. If this data is accidentally or deliberately compromised, and you have failed to deploy appropriate security measures, you may face fines and regulatory sanctions.

Knowing what motivates attackers and the impacts of cyber attacks is a step to preventing such instances from occurring in your business or organisation. However, a comprehensive security assessment and implementation of an efficient solution is a full on strategy to preventing an actual cyber attack.

Do you have cyber security concerns or just general inquiries for your business or organisation? Wondering where to actually start? We invite you to engage with us, we can help!