As an IT professional, you can encounter all types of clients in all types of industries. Do you know what keeps them up at night? Do you know what worries them about network security?
Knowing their top concerns can be a great way to tailor your approach to new and ongoing customer relationships. By focusing on these areas, you can begin to personalize your marketing, sales process, client engagements, and even how you approach their network security.
Combing through every client’s concerns and preparing for top threats in every industry would be exhausting, so let’s focus on seven big areas and discuss the primary concerns of each.
Regulatory enforcement took the cake for the financial services sector with 49% of respondents placing it as a top network security concern should a breach occur, according to the KPMG Consumer Loss Barometer report.
The number is unusually high when compared to other sectors due to the unique laws that pertain to the financial industry.
Strict regulations put pressure on financial institutions to be technologically secure. Non-compliance can easily put a bank or other finance-related company out of business.
Understandably so, 61% of respondents working in the tech field rated their reputation as the highest network security concern in the event of a breach, according to KPMG’s report.
Losing credibility can be detrimental to a technology business. Customers typically do not understand how technology works, they simply trust that it will.
When a product begins harming rather than helping the customer, that trust can evaporate and take the tech company with it.
60% of respondents in retail reported financial loss as their top network security concern in a data breach, according to KPMG’s report.
A breach can also deter potential business from a retail company long after it occurs.
33% of consumers said they would wait three months before purchasing again from a retail store that had been compromised.
16% said they would wait six months, and 3% said they would wait 12 months or more.
These long term effects can deeply cut into a retail business’s bottom line, with the average estimated cost of a breach being roughly $2.55 million.
Similar to their peers in retail, 62% of respondents from the automotive industry also rated financial loss as their top network security concern, according to the report.
80% of consumers said that if their car was hacked, the event would make a moderate to huge negative impact on the way they view the brand of the car.
10% said they would never buy a car from a company that had been hacked.
With stats like these, keeping an automotive business’ information secure is a must if they are your client.
While not a market explored in the KPMG report, the healthcare sector largely depends on IT providers to protect patient information as required by laws such as HIPAA.
Patient concerns about privacy can make a huge impact on a healthcare facility if things go south in a breach.
54% of patients said they were moderately to very likely to switch doctors if their records were compromised, especially if medical staff were at fault for the breach, according to a report from Software Advice.
A less-than-stellar reputation and financial loss can both result from a successful attack, and should both be top network security concerns for healthcare professionals.
Like their financial services counterparts however, the healthcare industry is also regulated by laws such as HIPAA.
Regulatory enforcement should be a top network security concern of a healthcare business. Not implementing the controls set forth in these laws can shut the doors on a healthcare facility.
For more information on how to become HIPAA compliant, check out the HIPAA section on our resources page.
Lawyers, CPA’s and all other professional service firms shouldn’t let client confidentiality slide through the cracks of a spotty network security plan.
Such firms are regulated on how they should keep client information private, and should keep regulatory enforcement on the top of their list for network security concerns during a breach.
The repercussions for not implementing a proactive security plan before an attack can include a tarnished reputation and significant financial loss thanks to lawyer fees and other legal fees associated with data breaches.
A panel of higher education leaders rated Information Security as their top IT concern in 2016, and for good reason.
Higher education is estimated to compose 17% of all personal information data breaches, according to K. Westby from Coalfire Systems.
In successful attacks, financial loss for a university can be substantial, especially in the way of legal costs. The data breach at the University of Maryland cost the institution several million dollars.
Reputations, especially for ivy league schools, can also take some damage from an attack.
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