Chris Thompson: $20 Million Attacks
on Wednesday, January 27, 2016Chris Thompson Money Quotation saying as Accenture Finance Risk Services Senior Managing Director that financial cyber attacks are extremely costly to both banks and customers to mitigate. Chris Thompson said:
“The average annual cost of cyber attacks for financial services firms is $20 million. How many $20 million dollar attacks can you afford?” — Chris Thompson
In this quote, Chris Thompson is posing a rhetorical question to financial services firms about the financial and business risks of cyber attacks. Specifically, Thompson notes that on average, cyber attacks cost financial companies $20 million per year.
He then asks firms directly how many of these $20 million attacks they can withstand or “afford” in financial terms. The implication is that cybersecurity should be viewed as an important investment area, since even one major attack could significantly impact a company’s bottom line and long-term viability.
Thompson appears to be encouraging organizations to carefully assess their cyber risk exposure and make sure they have adequate defenses and protocols in place, since the potential costs of being hacked are very high in monetary terms based on industry averages.