How Can Email Phishing Affect a Business

With most of the world switching to remote work because of the pandemic, we’ve also noticed an increase in phishing attacks. According to an IMB report, there’s been a 2% increase in phishing attacks between 2019 and 2020, mainly because of the pandemic. And, there are no signs that the attacks are slowing downs – quite the contrary.

When a business becomes the victim of a phishing attack, the stakes can be incredibly high. More often than not, hackers aren’t trying to steal money, but data. And, a data breach caused by a phishing attack can affect your business tremendously.

Here’s how.

Your Reputation Will Suffer

Consumers trust that your website is safe when they entrust you with personal information like their credit card numbers. News of a data breach will break this trust and clients are likely to search for other providers.

You Will Lose Customers

Once your reputation has been affected, you may start losing customers too. One UK survey found that 44% of customers will stop doing business with a company for several months following a data breach.

You Can Expect a Drop in Market Performance

One study looked at 34 companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange that suffered a data breach. They noticed a 3.5% drop in market performance two weeks after the breach was made public. And, although the share prices seem to recover after the event, these companies were underperforming by over 8.6% one year after the breach.

You May Suffer Legal Penalties

If you are found liable for the data breach, victims may ask for compensation that can add up to millions of dollars.

Consumer credit reporting agency, Equifax, notoriously had to pay over $700 million in settlement fees for how it handled a massive data breach that affected over 150 million people.

Want to Make Sure Your Business Is Safe? We Can Help!

Are you wondering how you can protect your business against phishing attacks? In addition to training your employees on cybersecurity good practices, and setting up firewalls and antivirus software, you can also work with West County Computers. We have decades of experience in computer maintenance and support services and can help your business stay safe.

Get in touch with us now to request a free IT risk assessment. If you would like to learn more about how we can help, use the online form on our website to get in touch or call us at 707-360-8652.