The UK government is encouraging businesses to beef up their cyber security protections after a recent government study found that two thirds of big UK businesses suffered a cyber attack in the past year. Not only can a cyber attack cost millions of pounds to deal with, the new EU General Data Protection Regulation (coming into force mid-2018) means that businesses will soon face substantial fines of up to 4% of worldwide turnover if they do not have suitable measures in place to protect against cyber attacks. With the survey finding that seven out of 10 attacks could have been prevented, this should be a cause for concern for many UK businesses - and their boards.
And of course, there's the reputational damage that can arise if your customers' personal data is compromised - just ask Target or Ashley Madison.