Each year, over 900,000 of us find that thieves have used our card details to make purchases or to withdraw money from our accounts. However, proving that fraud has taken place on your account can be difficult.

Run antivirus and anti-malware software. Doing so could end up preventing computer viruses and losing your information.

How malware affects your business

Malware is a tool that hackers use to imitate your IPv4 address so they can gain access to your bank account.

Often you don’t even know that they have control over your bank account.

If your customers get tricked they tend to have trust issues and will look for an alternative business that doesn’t have any malware.

Double-check your transactions. Look over your statements for any fraudulent purchases, and report anything suspicious right away.

Your web browser checks the security certificate of websites, making it easier to detect invalid sites. So always make sure the websites you use are secure before entering personal information.

Consequence #1: Lost Sales

Unfortunately, bad news travels fast and if your business has experienced a hack in which data has been compromised, and then you can be sure that people will avoid your business at all costs. After a well know US retailer’s profits dropped drastically following a major hack, you can be sure the same would apply to any other business that gets hacked.

 

Consequence #2: Damaged Reputation

Once the damage is done, it can be very difficult to reverse. Consumer trust is something that is not easily won over and even harder to win back. At best, it can be ameliorated with countless hours of reputation management, marketing, and public relations.

 

Consequence #3: Compensation Costs

You may have to reassure people with compensation in the form of free credit monitoring and/or identity theft insurance. It’s free for your customers … it’s not free for you.

Consequence #4: Legal Action

Unfortunately lawsuits are commonplace nowadays. Regardless if your business wins or loses, legal action costs can be huge. If the breach occurred because your business made some mistakes, then it’s safe to assume that the law is not going to be on your side.

 

Consequence #5: Fines

The good news: if customers’ credit cards are actually used to purchase stuff fraudulently, you don’t have to foot that bill; the banks do the reimbursing. The bad news: the banks pass on those costs to you in the form of fines.

Consequence #6: Government Audits

Regardless of the country your business is in, if your business is large enough then there is a big chance that a government organisation such as the Federal Trade Commission (US) will be knocking on your door to carry out an audit. They may even decide to then fine your business if they find that guidelines such as PCI DSS were not followed.

Consequence 7: Remediation Costs

You’re also going to have internal remediation costs: costs to investigate what happened improve your security posture, fire and hire employees … whatever it takes to fix your internal information security environment.

Permanent financial damages 8:

Financial damages to a company came in as the second most feared repercussion following a breach. According to the Ponemon Institute, the average price for small businesses to clean up after their businesses have been hacked stands at $690,000, and for middle market companies it’s more than $1 million.

This cost escalates when organizations hire external IT professionals to help mitigate a security breach — something that would have been much more cost effective prior to a breach — but once the damage is done, it’s the best option.

Irreconcilable reputation damage 9:

A data breach isn’t just a small glitch — it is a damaging mistake that a company oftentimes is unable to shake off. The inevitable PR nightmare following a data breach causes reputation damage that may be irreconcilable.

This is particularly important for small businesses, because many do not see themselves as targets and they often believe a simple step such as the activation of two-factor authentication is good enough.

But, the consequences of a breach in a small business can far outweigh the effects of a breach at a large corporation, as there’s often not a strong enough reputation built up to fall back on.

Side effects can include other organizations’ unwillingness to partner with a company that has faced a data breach, but the losses oftentimes go beyond sales, as businesses are often forced to spend hefty funds on improving security measures.

 

 

 

 

Lack Of Trust Costs Brands $2.5 Trillion Per Year

Failure to protect consumer data is used results in distrust and, ultimately, loss of business.

Those that succeed will hit a sweet spot whereby customers will be willing to share more personal insights into their world in return for greater value and the confidence that their data is protected

 

Here a few relevant findings:

• Lack of trust costs global brands $2.5 trillionper year. This compares to $756 billion lost by U.S. companies and 41 percent loss of clients.
• Forty-three percentof U.S. consumers and 44 percent of global consumers reported that they were more likely to buy from companies that personalize experiences.
• Thirty-one percentof U.S. respondents and 34 percent of global respondents stated they find value in services that learn their needs from personalization.
• Sixty-seven percentof millennials, 56 percent of Gen Xers, and 42 percent of Boomers claimed they would be willing to share their shopping preferences in order to improve the service they received.
• Eighty-sevenpercent of global consumers and 92 percent of U.S. consumers claimed they believe it is extremely important for companies to safeguard their information.
• Fifty-eight percentof global consumers and 66 percent of U.S. consumers want companies to be more transparent about how the information they gather is used.

 

Primarily, companies should focus on minimizing “switching,” referring to the loss of one customer or client to another brand or company, by addressing the most common customer service frustrations such as having to contact the company multiple times for the same reason, dealing with unfriendly or impolite employees, and not being provided what was promised at the time of purchase.

The generation with the highest propensity to “switch” and therefore in need of the most retention efforts? Millennials. This is due in large part to their elevated “digital prowess” rendering them more adept at identifying their alternatives and accelerating purchasing power that has them on pace to control $24 trillion in wealth by 2020.

 

 

Perhaps even more importantly, if we start trusting the people we’ve hired, then thousands of people could start looking forward to going to work again. It would save companies billions in reduced stress, depression and resignations, and improve output and innovation. After all, according to a survey by HBR and Energy Group, employees who felt their leaders treated them with respect (i.e. trusted them) were 63% more satisfied with their jobs, 55% more engaged, 58% more focused, and 110% more likely to stay with their organization.

That’s makes trust worthwhile for the bottom line too

 

CEOs must monitor stakeholder trust

If companies do not understand the drivers of stakeholder trust, a sustainable and resilient approach is unlikely to evolve.

Trust comes down to values, competence and customer experience

PwC recognises that the process of understanding what trust is, and how it can be measured and enlisted to underpin key business decisions, is complex and goes to the heart of a company’s values, competence and customer experience.

A starting point for all CEOs and their teams is to understand how they are demonstrating to stakeholders their commitment to integrity and values. A breach of values can be irretrievable. So balancing thorny issues like executive pay and the treatment of employees and communities is key.

Secondly, how are CEOs ensuring the customer receives the expertise and competence they have bargained for? Again, this is something no organisation can afford to consistently fail if repeat business is the aspiration. Thirdly, what experience are customers receiving in both good times and bad?

Consistently great customer, employee and stakeholder experience will cover all manner of sins when it comes to building, maintaining and gaining trust.

Behaviours That Improve Trust

The management behaviours that can improve the levels of trust in an organisation.  These behaviours are measurable and can be managed to improve performance.

Recognise Excellence

There are many books that emphasise the need for effective recognition and experiments demonstrated that it is most powerful and long lasting when it occurs immediately after a goal has been met, when it comes from peers, and when it’s tangible, unexpected, personal, and public.

How can you and your managers organise and facilitate more of this?

Share Information Broadly.

Uncertainty erodes trust and a lack of communication from leaders creates a vacuum that is quickly filled with gossip and rumours based on people’s fears and insecurities.  This can quickly lead to chronic stress which inhibits Oxytocin and undermines teamwork.  .  A 2015 study of 2.5 million manager-led teams in 195 countries found that workforce engagement improved when supervisors had some form of daily communication with direct reports.  Regular and ongoing communication is key, businesses that share their strategy and explain why they are taking this approach reduce uncertainty.  The social media optimisation company Buffer takes a radical approach to transparency and publishes salaries for all employees including the CEO online.  What do you need to do more of to improve communication throughout your business?

Intentionally Build Relationships.

There are now numerous studies that show that teams that know each and have good interpersonal relationships outperform others with less social interaction.  Our success as a species is due to our social skills and the brain network that Oxytocin activates is very old in evolutionarily terms.  This means it is deeply embedded in our nature.  Studies at Google found that managers who “express interest in and concern for team members’ success and personal well-being” outperform others in the quality and quantity of their work.  What are you doing to help people build social connections and provide team-building activities?

Show Vulnerability.

Asking for help is a sign of a secure leader.  When a leader asks for help instead of just telling people to do stuff it stimulates Oxytocin production in others, increasing their trust and cooperation.   Many leaders feel as if they have to know all the answers and yet it is the leaders with healthy self-esteem who are more likely to be comfortable being vulnerable and engage everyone to reach common goals.   Asking for help is effective because it taps into our natural evolutionary impulse to cooperate with others.  What do you need in order to feel more comfortable asking for help?