Protecting your recruitment business against cyber crime
Criminality in the digital world is a multi-faceted entity, with vastly different things falling under the broader title of ‘cyber crime’.
As a business, your priority should be preventing cyber crime in all its forms from affecting what you do and how you do it.
The world of recruitment is today very much a digital one, with recruiters needing to be as aware of cyber crime as businesses operating in any other field.
In this blog, we take a look at what we believe recruitment businesses need to consider when it comes to protecting themselves from cyber crime.
Understanding cyber crime in the recruitment space
As mentioned, the term cyber crime covers a broad spectrum of areas. It covers data breaches, which can lead to businesses having to foot a significant bill in order to inform all those people who may have been impacted.
Cyber business interruptions are another area which can prove frustrating for recruiters who need digital tools to operate effectively. Other types of aggressive cyber crimes include ransomware and extortion.
Beyond these, companies should also consider the IT and forensic costs associated to fix damage caused by criminality. Patching breaches and restoring data is not a quick or cheap process, and can give recruiters a real headache.
Your company’s reputation may also take a significant hit if affected by cyber crime. The cost of this is hard to pin down, but is certainly something to avoid.
Add to this the potential legal and regulatory costs associated with a cyber attack, as well as the possibility of theft of funds, fraud and social engineering, and it is safe to say recruiters should take steps to try and stop cyber crime piercing a big hole in what they do.
What cyber crime looks like in reality
When considering how to defend your business against cyber crime, it is worth getting an understanding of how being the victim of cyber crime may play out.
An easy way to consider your risk is by simply counting the number of personal records you hold on file. For the purposes of this claim example, let’s say it’s 50,000 personal records. If you have a data breach, you will be required to report it to the ICO, and then likely have to contact all 50,000 people by post, email or phone regarding what has happened to their data, and what you are doing about it.
If the cost of a stamp is 80p, that’s an immediate cost of £40,000. And this is before you factor in the additional costs of resources, reputational damage and forensics to patch the breach to your business.
Another example of a damaging cyber crime is employee impersonation. It’s obvious what damage could be caused if a member of the accounts team or the senior team is impersonated, but the consequences of a regular sales consultant being impersonated can be huge.
Protecting your recruitment business from cyber crime
With so many potential issues coming in various forms, it makes sense for recruitment businesses to protect themselves against cyber crime.
Cyber crime insurance is a great step towards protecting your business and having things covered if criminals do target your company.
The cost of getting the kind of coverage you need in order to stay protected will vary depending on a number of factors. These include your business turnover, and the number of employees you have as part of your team. The number of personal records in your CRM will also be a factor. If you have existing infrastructure and cyber defence systems in place, then this will also have an effect on the cost of cover. Additional possible factors include countries involved with your work and the policies and procedures you have in place.
Get your recruitment business protected against cyber crime
We have seen cyber attacks and cyber crime becoming increasingly prevalent across the labour industry, most notably in recent times within the Umbrella sector.
These incidents are happening to recruiters too, making it vital that advice and action is taken in the form of investment in systems, procedures and insurance to help defend your business.
To discuss your business requirements, contact Kingsbridge Insurance Brokers today.
