Staying Safe: Cyber Security for People and Organizations

Abstract

Our increasingly interconnected world creates threats of cybercrime that pervade our work and private lives. Some experts warn that fraud is inevitable, with “90 percent of businesses falling victim to at least one security breach [in the single year that was reviewed]. . . making the threat from cyber attacks a near certainty” (Summers, 2011). Identity theft is only one possible fallout of data theft, but it is a nuisance at the very least and potentially much more serious than that. At the least victims are forced to change passwords and get new credit cards. At worst, when an identity is truly stolen it can be difficult to prove identity, and it can take months or years to rebuild documentation and credit scores. For organizations, the direct cost associated with notifications, providing credit monitoring, and lost revenue due to reputational damage can be counted in millions of dollars.