One click on a link can cost millions of dollars

One day, a cybersecurity expert received an urgent call that would challenge his skills in ways he hadn’t anticipated. An organization had just been hit by a ransomware attack, a crippling incident that went beyond mere data theft. The company’s information had been rendered completely unusable, and the malicious software was spreading, forcing operations to a standstill and pushing employees back to pen-and-paper methods. The expert immediately recognized the gravity of the situation and the opportunity to make a positive impact.

As he delved into the incident, what he discovered was beyond anything he’d encountered before. He was reminded of the massive 2017 attack on the UK’s National Health Service, which had cost nearly £100 million to recover from. This case, though smaller, was devastating, with a recovery bill of £5 million and 14 months of downtime. But more than the financial burden, it was the human toll that struck him: employees signed off work due to stress, some even unable to return the next day.

The whole ordeal had begun with one unsuspecting click — a single individual unknowingly allowing the malware to infiltrate the network. It reminded the expert that cybersecurity is not just about technology; it’s about people. In fact, IBM’s 2021 study found that 95% of cyberattacks exploit human behavior, not technological…