October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month.
But let’s be honest, for too many businesses, cybersecurity only gets attention after disaster strikes.
From multimillion-dollar ransomware payouts to healthcare systems grinding to a halt, the real-world cost of neglecting cybersecurity isn’t just about numbers on a balance sheet.
It’s about lost trust, disrupted operations, and reputations that may never recover.
In this post, we’ll look at high-profile cases that highlight the importance of investing in strong cyber defences.
Let’s explore what went wrong and highlight practical lessons your organization can use today to avoid becoming the next cautionary tale.
The Price Tag of Neglect
Modern studies make one thing abundantly clear: cyber incidents are costly, often catastrophically so.
According to IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach Report 2025, the global average cost of a data breach is now $4.44 million, despite a 9 % decline from the previous year.
Even that average masks wide variation: in the U.S., the average cost of a breach now exceeds $10.22 million, driven by regulatory fines, escalation and detection costs, and reputational fallout.
Moreover, longer dwell times (i.e. how long an attacker remains undetected) can inflate costs dramatically.
Organizations that identify and contain a breach within 200 days incur average costs of $ 3.87 million, while those that exceed 200 days see that jump to $5 million.
These numbers only capture the more tangible side of the ledger: regulatory penalties, legal fees, incident response costs, forensic investigations, and remediation.
But just as important are the intangible and often prolonged effects on brand reputation, customer trust, and competitive positioning.
Lessons from Real-World Breaches
To bring these numbers to life, let’s look at a few high-impact cases and extract lessons.
Equifax (2017)
One of the most infamous breaches in recent history, the Equifax incident saw the personal data of 147 million Americans exposed through an unpatched Apache Struts vulnerability.
Over time, the cost to Equifax (including settlements, regulatory fines, and mandatory security improvements) has exceeded $1.38 billion.
Lessons:
– Patch management is non-negotiable — known vulnerabilities in web frameworks are prime targets
– Beyond technical fixes, governance, segmentation, monitoring and defense-in-depth matter
– Regulatory class actions and consumer lawsuits often persist for years
HSE / Ireland Health Service (2021–2023)
Ireland’s public health system was hit by ransomware. Immediate response costs for the Department of Health were about €1 million, while the broader Health Service Executive (HSE) estimated total losses could exceed €100 million.
Beyond monetary losses, the breach delayed cancer treatment referrals, disrupted clinical trials, and threatened patient safety.
Lessons:
– Critical infrastructure and public services can be existential targets
– Even if ransom is resolved, secondary business disruptions may outlast recovery
– Business continuity and emergency planning must include cyber as a core pillar
Caesars / MGM / Scattered Spider (2023)
In a high-profile attack, the hacker group Scattered Spider infiltrated internal systems at MGM and Caesars via social engineering, bypassed multi-factor authentication, and breached customer data.
Caesars paid a $15 million ransom, settling for half their original demand. MGM later agreed to pay up to $45 million in class-action settlements.
Lessons:
– MFA and access control aren’t foolproof on their own—they must be paired with anomaly detection, rate limiting, and identity protection
– Social engineering (e.g. phishing, credential reuse) remains a top vector
– The fallout reaches financial, legal, and reputational dimensions
Ryuk Ransomware, Sopra Steria (2020)
Sopra Steria, a major French IT services company, was hit by Ryuk ransomware, which encrypted data and forced operational interruption. The company estimated its total costs between $47 million and $59 million.
Lessons:
– Ransomware operators escalate rapidly once inside
– Containment, backup strategy, and segmentation are vital
– Relying solely on backups is risky; system dependencies and cascading effects are real
Underlying Risk Factors That Amplify Cost
From these cases and from aggregated research, several “cost amplifiers” emerge:
Long dwell times / slow detection — the longer a breach festers, the more damage an attacker can do.
Complex, interdependent systems — supply chain vulnerabilities and third-party dependencies (e.g. service providers, cloud infrastructure) are prime attack surfaces.
Insider risk and credential misuse — insiders or compromised accounts often bypass perimeter defenses.
Regulatory and compliance exposure — noncompliance with GDPR, HIPAA, or industry standards magnifies financial penalties.
Poor incident planning and immature response — a lack of playbooks, drills, and practiced escalation leads to chaos under pressure.
Reputational / business continuity damage — customer churn, loss of vendors, stock value erosion, and long-term brand damage often dwarf the initial breach costs.
Academic work underscores this too.
Another paper proposing the “Real Cyber Value at Risk (RCVaR)” methodology argues that combining real-world breach data with risk modelling offers more accurate estimates of firm-specific exposure, reminding us that the cost of neglect isn’t simply theoretical, but quantifiable.
What Businesses Must Do (Now)
Understanding the cost is just the start. The real payoff lies in prevention, preparedness, and resilience.
Here are the key takeaways:
1. Prioritize proactive investment
Cybersecurity should be a board-level concern, not an afterthought. The upfront cost of controls, tools, audits, and training is almost always lower than clean-up and litigation later.
2. Build a robust incident response plan and practice it
Running tabletop exercises, defining roles, and rehearsing response steps can shorten dwell time and reduce chaos. Well-prepared organizations tend to save millions per breach. cybersaint.io+2CompTIA+2
3. Layer defenses, not rely on a single silver bullet
Implement defense-in-depth: endpoint protection, network segmentation, identity monitoring, anomaly detection, encryption, and zero trust. Use threat intelligence to stay ahead of evolving tactics.
4. Focus on identity, access, and credential hygiene
Enforce strong multifactor authentication, principle of least privilege, regular credential rotations, and monitoring for credential stuffing or reuse. The 2023 23andMe breach is a recent example of credential reuse risk. arXiv
5. Monitor and vet third parties
Supply chain and third-party attacks are rising. Ensure all vendors meet security standards and continuously monitor them. The SolarWinds incident is a well-known case highlighting this point.
6. Continuously audit, train, and adapt
Threat landscapes evolve. Regular penetration testing, security awareness training, phishing drills, and red teaming help maintain vigilance.
Conclusion: The True Cost of Cybersecurity Neglect
This Cybersecurity Month, let’s treat this as an opportunity.
The cost of neglecting cybersecurity is real, but so are the rewards of getting it right. With the right safeguards in place, businesses can prevent disruption, protect their reputation, and build lasting trust.
With strategic investment, practiced readiness, and strong defenses, the majority of breaches can be prevented—or at least limited before they spiral out of control.
If you’d like support building or maturing your cybersecurity capabilities, book a discovery call with our team.
Let’s explore how to turn cybersecurity from a liability into a strategic asset.
