Cyber threats are the actions of bad actors seeking to disrupt and compromise business operations, steal confidential information or cause monetary loss. Threats may be unintentional, such as phishing emails or rogue software, or intentional, such as advanced persistent threats (APTs) that use sophisticated techniques to remain undetected for extended periods, distributed denial of service attacks that flood systems with internet traffic and serve as smokescreens for more invasive attacks, or man-in-the-middle (MitM) attacks that intercept communications between two parties to obtain and manipulate data.
Most cyberattackers are after financial gain, whether stealing credit card and other personal identifiable information (PII), intellectual property/source code, or corporate data like customer or employee records. Some attackers are ideologically motivated, such as hacktivist groups that target organizations they oppose and try to bring them down.
The economic impact of a cyberattack is huge. It can include losses due to extortion, but it also includes operational expenses associated with remediation and recovery efforts. It can affect brand reputation and damage supply chains. It can even lead to lost customers and business partners.
Attacks are especially dangerous in the healthcare and energy sectors, where they can be aimed at critical infrastructure. According to IBM’s 2024 Cyber Security Intelligence Index, the manufacturing industry saw the most cyberattacks in that year, but this has increased rapidly since 2019. High profile breaches can also cause loss of confidence among the public and the broader community which can negatively affect business for some time.