Cybersecurity became more valuable over the years, affecting almost all spheres of human activity due to the increased importance of data and its protection against the undesirable accessibility to specific information. Referring to Seemms et al. (2018), cybersecurity is defined as a state of defense against cyberattacks with the help of internet-connected tools such as IT systems.
Cybersecurity impacts the safety of a company’s valuable data, which should be stored with limited access without any external involvement due to confidentiality, privacy, or other reason. This system is essential primarily for governmental or military units and big enterprises due to the necessity for these parties to keep their data secret in private information, innovations, or knowledge (Seemms et al., 2018). Therefore, the company’s top management should pay increased attention to the cybersecurity issues and policies operated within the company.
How Cybersecurity Affects Modern Management and Leadership Strategies
Each failure of protecting private organizational information may provoke a scandal in public and decrease shareholders’ value due to the increased risk of the company’s failure in the market. Therefore, the company’s strategy should be modified according to cybersecurity importance and actual changes in the emerging virtual market. Leadership strategy may include educating and training employees to correctly deal with the risks of scams, such as the most common email frauds. In addition, the resource allocation within the company should include investments in cybersecurity development to protect the company’s property against attacks. The company may use online tools that may decrease the risk of data loss; for instance, ensuring the third parties’ credibility may prevent the problem.
Significant Risks Which Organizational Leadership Must Confront
Organizational management can face several risks that arise based on the lack of cybersecurity applied in the company’s system. Buchanan and Prasad (2019) outlined the main threats that the top management may face in cybersecurity issues. Firstly, organizational leadership should not undervalue the importance of cybersecurity since the risk of losing the data stored in the company’s database may harm the corporate reputation and trustworthiness.
Secondly, the cybersecurity system applied in the organization must meet the rapidly emerging IT industry, which means that the dynamic risk of new cyber-attacks should be expected to develop technologies further. Therefore, the company’s leadership should constantly evaluate the actual situation in the market and update their virtual security system according to those changes. Thirdly, the IT department or specialists responsible for the company’s protection in the cyber environment must be reliable and keep confidential and private corporate information regarding cybersecurity.
Yahoo Example of Cybersecurity Failure
In 2016 Yahoo company announced that in 2014 almost 500 million user accounts’ information was stolen due to the cyber attack, which was not prevented by the company’s cybersecurity system. This case provoked a big scandal because Yahoo knew about the possibility of the breach in advance of the actual attack. According to Whittler and Farris (2017), the company’s value was decreased by $1,5 million right after the announcement was publicly reported.
The failure of cybersecurity by the company’s leadership may result in “unauthorized access to sensitive, protected, or confidential data resulting in the compromise or potential compromise of confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the affected data” (Whittler & Farris, 2017, p.2). This case outlines the importance of the company’s cybersecurity awareness and its potential impact on further organizational performance. The company’s leadership must react immediately to the risks arising from the cyber environment, which threaten the security of the stored data, either corporate or customer’s private information.
References
Buchanan, W. J. & Prasad, A. R. (Eds.). (2019). Challenges in cybersecurity and privacy – the European research landscape. River Publisher. Web.
Seemms, P. S., Nandhini, S. & Sowmiya, M. (2018). Overview of cyber security. International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer and Communication Engineering, 7(11). Web.
Whittler, K. A. & Farris, P. W. (2017). The impact of cyber attacks on a brand’s image: Why proactive marketing expertise is needed for managing data breaches. Journal of Advertising Research, 57(1), 3-9. Web.