You might think of real estate, stocks or the most up-to-date tech startups when you think of smart investments. There is a different type of investment that has both immediate and long term benefits: cybersecurity. This investment is crucial to protect companies from costly cyberattacks and assists them in avoiding costly penalties and loss of trust from customers.

As digital transformation transforms business operations of companies, they generate, manipulate and store an ever-growing amount of data. This data must be handled across complex computing environments. These environments include cloud data centres, enterprise data centres, as well as a variety of connected devices, such as Internet of Things sensors and robotics. This added complexity creates a larger attack surface and makes it harder to secure critical information from loss or compromise.

In addition to the financial cost of data breaches, they can also harm a company’s reputation and cause long-term losses in sales. A recent study found that the average cost of the data breach is $4 million – a cost that is difficult for any business to absorb. Additionally, regulations such as the California Consumer Privacy Act and the General Data Protection Regulation impose severe penalties on companies that do not meet the strictest security standards.

In today’s world of competitiveness an effective cybersecurity posture is crucial to gaining traction. It’s more cost-effective and efficient unlock the potential of m&a tools for successful integration to invest in preventative measures instead of paying for cleanup and restoration after a breach. By implementing the right technology and tools, companies can ensure their information is safe during transit, in the middle and in the middle, by implementing encryption by focussing on the human firewall and conducting regular deep-checks.