In response, prudent risk managers know they must focus their cyber mitigation efforts on reducing those risks. Here are some business classes with a high exposure to cyber crimes.

Health care focus on data. Within the health care industry, hacks that could lead to a data breach remain the top priority. These industries deal with significant amounts of personally identifiable information. They also have many employees who can access their systems. It's a situation cyber attackers could look to exploit — and one that carries the potential for a costly data breach. Cyber extortion and ransomware attacks should also be high on the list of exposures to watch out for in the health care industry. There have been numerous high-profile ransomware attacks on hospitals that have resulted in hospitals getting locked out of their own files. That's a scary proposition for any organization, and a concern that health care business risk managers everywhere will be more attuned to over the coming years.
Consumer businesses also focus on data. Retailers, financial services firms and other consumer-facing businesses are concerned with data breaches because they deal with significant volumes of personally identifiable information. Perhaps more so than in other industries, that data can include sensitive financial information such as credit cards or access to financial accounts — again, items that hackers would see as highly valuable. They're frequent targets, too. The retail sector accounted for 24 percent of companies whose data was breached, while 18 percent of intrusions were reported by financial firms, according to a report issued earlier this year by the California attorney general's office. The 100 largest retailers in the United States now universally cite cyber security as a concern, making it the top perceived risk, according to a recent analysis by accounting firm BDO.
Manufacturers focus on networks. Because manufacturers are far less likely to be consumer-facing businesses, they store significantly less personal information on their networks and are less concerned about data breaches. Still, there is a risk that personally identifiable information could be exposed. There is also a substantial risk that a cyber attack or malware could lead to downtime for production machines or even a whole factory floor — and that can be an extremely expensive business interruption.

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Special Reports /

Top cyber threats can shift by industry, but risk is universal

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