Worldwide, the average cost of a data breach has hit a new record: $4.4 million. In the United States, however, the average price tag is more than double that: $9.44 million. Even though cybersecurity can be a significant expense for an organization, the overall cost of cybersecurity pales in comparison to that of a breach. Furthermore, some of the most effective cyber security techniques come with surprisingly small price tags.

Here are some of those strategies and why they’re effective methods of protecting your organization.

Cultivating a Positive Cybersecurity Culture

By promoting a positive cybersecurity culture, you help achieve buy-in across your organization. Then, because employees and managers see cybersecurity in a positive light, they’re ready to jump on board and do what they can to help. As a result, you can significantly reduce the impacts of:

• Phishing attacks that would otherwise catch unsuspecting employees off guard
• Lost, stolen, or easy-to-guess passwords that employees have strengthened and secured as a result of your cybersecurity culture
• Insider attacks by attackers who take advantage of abandoned computers with open sessions simply because employees now know to close sessions and lock computers when they have to leave their workstations

Continuous Auditing and Testing

Even though on the surface, continuous testing in origin may seem expensive, in reality, it’s not. For example, you can perform frequent, routine penetration scans for far less than you would lose in the event of even a minor cyberattack.

By continually testing and auditing your security system, you also support a positive cybersecurity culture, as mentioned above. For instance, when an audit or a test reveals improvement in how employees safeguard systems, you can use that as an opportunity to hand out kudos and even outright rewards to acknowledge their performance.

Conduct Security Awareness Training

You don’t need expensive trainers onsite to enable a great security awareness training program. By opting for training programs through a managed services provider, you can reduce your overall cost of training while also providing the knowledge your employees need to safeguard your data and systems. Most of all data breaches are a result of human error, so educating employees makes it easier to defend against attacks at the front lines.

Adding Cyber Insurance Coverage

There’s a good chance that your general liability insurance policy doesn’t cover cyberattacks. This could be an expensive mistake. By adding cyber insurance to your policy, you can cover the following:

• Ransomware payments
• The costs of rebuilding your system after an attack
• The expenses associated with recovering stolen data

In this way, you can absorb the financial punch of an attack—for far less than you’d have to pay if you suffered a breach.

Evaluate Your Risk and Cybersecurity Tools

By partnering with the experts at TPx, you can make sure you get the most out of your IT budget with affordable cybersecurity solutions and services. Learn how by connecting with TPx today.