“Well, I think cyber security, cyber warfare will be one of the biggest challenges facing the next president…”

As President-elect Donald Trump continues on his journey toward the White House, previous statements about cyber warfare from one of the highest-ranked presidential debates in history still ring true. A significant player in this year’s election cycle, it is a necessary conversation to continue, regardless of political affiliation. Cyber crime is an issue that has plagued organizations, corporations, individuals and beyond.

The private sector has yet to fully embrace the severity of possible cyber warfare, and that the public sector has yet to truly catch up with the latest technology, both need to work together and separately so everything within the IoT is fully and completely secure for a more reliable experience.

Let’s look at the staggering cyber warfare facts from this year alone:

1 in 5: The ratio of small businesses that fall victim to hackers every year.

60: The percentage of said small businesses that go out of business within six months of the attack.

$551,000: The average amount spent to restore network operations after a significant data loss event.

34: The percentage of security incidents caused by someone clicking on an errant link or advertisement or visiting a compromised website.

36: The percentage of employees exploited via their mobile device.

40: The percentage of large enterprises who are confident in their suppliers’ information security system.

$1 Billion: The amount of money spent freeing networks and data from the aftermath of ransomware attacks.

90: The percentage of organizations that have experienced some type of external threat.

$942,000: The average amount enterprises spend to handle a breach in a virtual environment.

Cyber warfare, on both a large and small scale, can impact any citizen, or group of citizens, at any time. Who could forget the attack by China on the Office of Personnel Management this year that resulted in countless unencrypted pieces of data getting into the wrong hands. Cyber security protection is beyond necessary, and of the utmost importance.

Given the current cyber crime landscape today, the concern is no longer IF but WHEN an organization will be attacked. Safeguard the security of your critical data by implementing a solid cyber security plan that includes monitoring and management services by cyber professionals such as Tier3.