According to one recent study, the average cost of a data breach due to ransomware alone hit $4.54 million last year.
Believe it or not, that number actually climbs to about $5.12 million when you consider a purely destructive attack.
That may seem high, but it makes a fair bit of sense when you break it down.
You have the costs associated with the immediate lost productivity, as any type of data breach or cyber event is certain to take your critical systems offline.
Next, there's the cost associated with fixing whatever the problem is and getting everything back up and running.
If you weren't lucky enough to have consistent backups, you're looking at financial damage associated with work that you now have to redo.
You'll need to patch whatever security vulnerabilities were taken advantage of to begin with.
You'll have to face any compliance-related fines you're now subject to and deal with the potentially catastrophic damage to your reputation that happened in the aftermath.
If you were wondering why about 60% of small companies in particular close down within six months of a data breach, this is a big part of the reason.
Any business leader in the modern era must understand, in no uncertain terms, that there is nothing you can do to stop yourself from becoming a potential target for hackers.
You cannot be too small, or your industry cannot be "too niche" to avoid attention.
It is not a matter of "if" at this point, but when.
You can, however, stop yourself from becoming a potential victim.
This is especially true as we enter the artificial intelligence era and client data protection becomes infinitely more complicated.
One of the ways that you do that is via end-to-end encryption, which truly does act as your best line of defense against the cyber criminals just waiting in the wings.
Microsoft Copilot natively integrates with all the data present in your Microsoft 365 solutions.
Statistically speaking, hundreds of millions of people use Microsoft 365 for enterprise purposes every day.
Suddenly, you don't need to figure out how to compromise Microsoft Word or Microsoft Outlook to gain access to sensitive client information.
You just need to determine how to compromise Microsoft Copilot.
It has the access you need and if you can leverage it, you can get anything you want.
That is where end-to-end encryption comes into play.
Think of it a bit like a massive bank vault for your information. With end-to-end encryption, any data is "scrambled" into an unreadable format, and you can only access it if you have the appropriate decryption key.
This means that even if someone does intercept your data, there isn't anything they can do with it.
Again, the stakes are enormously high in this scenario.
If a data breach happens, you're not just looking at a financial loss.
Legal troubles are almost certain, as is a certain amount of damage to your reputation.
Maintaining confidentiality when it comes to client data, while also protecting against unauthorized access, is something that only robust encryption allows you to do.
When it comes to Copilot data security, thankfully, you're talking about more than just a tool that is used to help streamline processes throughout your day.
Yes, you're giving up a tremendous amount of access to your data just by using Copilot at all.
But the tool itself is also built to be as secure as possible at the exact same time.
Microsoft Copilot encrypts data both at-rest and in-transit.
This means that while data is sitting on a hard drive (or if it generally just isn't being accessed at all), it's totally encrypted.
But when it's in-transit - meaning when you're sending an important file to a client, or are in the process of transferring something to and from the cloud - it is also totally encrypted.
It doesn't matter if your data is being stored in a database, if it's saved as a file somewhere, or if it's in a backup that you (hopefully) don't have to rely upon - it's totally encrypted, exactly the way it should be.
Microsoft Copilot also uses these same types of encryption protocols to make sure that client data is protected against unauthorized access, too.
Only someone who needs access to a database record to do their job will have it, for example.
The same is true of files in storage, backup copies, and more.
So for the sake of example, say that someone did manage to gain access to your enterprise storage systems or even a backup copy of your files sitting on the cloud somewhere.
In the highly unlikely event that this were to happen in the first place, they still wouldn't be able to do anything with that information because they would lack the proper decryption keys.
That's like having two layers of protection instead of just one.
Remember that Copilot is about to become a built-in feature to Microsoft 365, which the chances are high your organization already uses.
This means that you'll soon need to integrate Copilot's encryption with your existing IT setup.
Doing so is the only way to guarantee the most seamless security experience possible.
To begin, examine Copilot's encryption features as they relate to your current infrastructure.
Where are the redundancies between what Copilot can do and what you're already doing?
Where are the gaps in your current deployment that Copilot might be able to fill?
During this time, you'll want to make sure that any other type of encryption you're already using will continue to work after Copilot's built-in protection takes effect.
Don't just assume this to be the case.
In some situations, you may need to select additional encryption solutions to make sure you're limiting your risk surface as much as possible.
Here, you'll need to find encryption solutions that are compatible with A) the IT infrastructure you already have, and B) Microsoft Copilot.
You want to make sure you're protected without introducing any unnecessary complexity into things.
Finally, you'll want to regularly review and update your encryption strategies moving forward.
New security threats and vulnerabilities will appear all the time.
You need to research them and know how to defeat them to proactively make sure you're protected.
The importance of this simply cannot be overstated.
It's equally essential to note that while any organization in any industry can be a target, certain fields are more prone to risk than others.
Healthcare and financial services are two of the most pressing examples of this.
Think about the sheer volume of personal information that even your primary care provider keeps that directly relates back to you.
You've got medical histories, a listing of every medication you're on or condition you have, any treatments that you're undertaking, insurance information, etc.
The same is true in financial services.
Your local community bank knows a tremendous amount about you - especially if you've ever applied for a loan or done anything beyond opening up a checking or savings account.
Because of that, if you operate in one of these two fields, you need to consider data sensitivity to be at its peak.
This makes an even more compelling argument for encryption, and that is before you start to look into legal requirements as dictated by various compliance measures.
The healthcare industry has to deal with HIPAA, for example.
That means that all patient data must be encrypted both at-rest and in-transit.
Extraordinarily strict access controls must be implemented in that only people who need access to information to do their jobs should have it - end of story.
There should also be audit trains in place to monitor who has accessed patient data, when that access took place, and what they did with it.
Any encryption measures you use must meet HIPAA standards to avoid legal issues and, most importantly, to protect patient privacy.
Over in the financial services industry, they have PCI-DSS compliance to worry about.
All cardholder information, transaction details, and similar bits of data must be encrypted no matter what.
Those encryption measures must maintain compliance with all PCI-DSS requirements.
As was true with healthcare, this involves encrypting data that is both in-transit and at-rest.
You also need to regularly conduct those encryption methods as new ones become available.
In both healthcare and financial services, you'll also want to conduct regular security audits to stay one step ahead of potential threats.
If someone who wishes to do you harm discovers a vulnerability, they're going to take advantage of it.
The only way to improve your chances is to be proactive.
If you discover it too, you can patch it just as quickly.
Always work to stay ahead of the curve to that end.
In the end, maybe the most important thing to take away from all this is that securing your data with end-to-end encryption is not something that you "do once and forget about."
Think about how quickly the world around us is evolving from an IT perspective.
The absolute best computer you could buy 20 years ago would seem like an antique next to an entry-level model from today.
As technology evolves and boundary levels are pushed, you need to work to stay one step ahead of those who wish to do you harm.
It's not just about implementing Copilot across your enterprise, although that is a good start.
You also need to be continuously monitoring and updating your encryption strategies moving forward.
As vulnerabilities are discovered, you need to work diligently to patch them.
As advancements become available, you need to take advantage of them.
This isn't just for your existing IT infrastructure.
Should the day come when you decide to replace your legacy system with something totally new, you'll need to maintain the same perspective.
Only then will you be able to enjoy all the benefits of living in a world with seemingly endless client data and as few of the potential downsides as possible.
If you're interested in finding out more information about the steps you can take to ensure end-to-end encryption regarding Copilot and client data, or if you have any additional questions about the impending AI revolution that you'd like to discuss with someone in a bit more detail, please don't delay - contact us today.