The sobering, scary world of cybercrime prevention — or preparation

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Old news.

Energy prices?

Sooooo December.

No, there’s something more terrifying that CEOs fear even more than those things: Cybercrime.

How big is cybercrime? A new report claims that if cybercrime had been a company in 2014, it would have had the second-largest market capitalization in the country at $445 billion. Only Apple Inc. would have been higher.

That’s how much it cost the global economy in 2014, when at $445 billion, it would have ranked as the world’s 23rd largest economy, according to the report.

The report, from Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm Hamilton Place Strategies, hands out some pointers as to what companies can do to prevent cybercrime and some tips on how to prepare for if and when a company is a victim of a data breach.

Already, local financial institutions have been affected by cybercrime. Every time a data breach strikes a national retail chain — like the infamous Target breach in 2013 — banks have to reissue credit and debit cards that may have been compromised. Costs for the reissues can reach into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

For the companies that are victims of data breaches, the cost is more than financial.

“While the direct cost of a cyberattack can be significant, the reputational damage can be even more impactful to the bottom line,” according to the report.

The report noted that in the Target data breach, the company incurred $252 million in related expenses. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company referred to the data breach as “an example of an incident that affected our reputation and negatively impacted our sales for a period of time,” according to the report.

So now comes the question: What are you doing as a company to prevent cybercrime?

You may be thinking, “I’m too small, cybercriminals only go after the big guys, I’m not worried about it.”

And maybe that’s true. (It’s really not. But let’s just assume it is.) Sooner or later, there will be such a market for cybercrime that the low-level hackers will stop reaching for the big score with companies like Ashley Madison and start focusing on the mid- and small-level companies that might not be as profitable, but whose systems are more vulnerable because of the “it won’t happen to me” mindset.

Bottom line, read the report. Make sure you know that your company is protected, and make sure you have a plan for if/when it happens to you.

Because at this point, chances are it probably will happen to you and your business.

You never know when Lazlo Hollyfeld, Ferris Bueller or David from “WarGames” is trying to hack into your system. Basically, Matthew Broderick might be trying to get into your system.