Reputational and Financial Risk in the Face of a Cyberattack

By Elías Cedillo Hernández
CEO & Founder of Grupo BeIT, BuróMC and Elit Infrastructure Services

In an environment where cyberattacks are executed in a matter of minutes and evolve at an alarming rate, the question is no longer if we will be attacked, but when—and how we will respond. Most critically: Are we prepared to protect our most valuable assets? Our reputation and the trust of our clients.

The ransomware, for example, has ceased to be an isolated threat and has become a sophisticated criminal industry. Although ransom payments have decreased, 69% of organizations that paid were attacked again. This not only represents a direct financial loss but also signals vulnerability, which can erode stakeholder confidence and irreparably damage corporate image. stakeholders y dañar irreversiblemente nuestra imagen.

Today, attackers don’t even need malware to cause chaos. Seventy-nine percent of the attacks detected in 2024 were “malware-free”meaning that criminals used legitimate tools and valid credentials to move within networks undetected. The average time for an attacker to move laterally inside a network dropped to 48 minutes—in some cases, just 51 seconds. So, can we afford to react late?

Just a few years ago social engineering has reached levels of sophistication unimaginable. The vishing grew 442% in 2024, and the trend continues upward in 2025. Cybercriminals now use phone calls , and voice clones to deceive employees and gain access to critical systems. This is no longer only about technology—it’s about manipulating people. And that forces us to rethink how we train and protect our teams. y clones de voz para engañar a empleados y obtener acceso a sistemas críticos. No se trata solo de tecnología, se trata de manipular a las personas. Y eso nos obliga a repensar cómo entrenamos y protegemos a nuestros equipos.

Cloud platforms and SaaS applications—tools that have helped us scale and become more agile—also represent potential attack vectors. 35% of cloud incidents originated from the misuse of valid accounts. Cybercriminals have proven that compromising a single identity is often enough to access sensitive data, move laterally, and launch extortion or intellectual-property-theft campaigns.

The economic impact of a single vulnerability has risen alarmingly. In 2024, the average cost of a data breach reached $4.88 million USD globally. By 2025, this figure has already surpassed $5.17 million, the highest value recorded to date.

But not all the news is bad. Investment in privacy and cybersecurity is yielding positive results. According to Cisco, 96% of organizations believe that the benefits of investing in privacy outweigh the costs, and 90% affirm that strong privacy laws increase customers’ willingness to share data. Regulation, far from being an obstacle, has become an enabler of trust and a source of competitive differentiation.

Still, many organizations lack the basic elements for effective recovery. 89% percent of backup repositories were attacked, and only 32% used immutable configurations. The lack of technical preparedness and coordination between IT and security teams remains a critical gap. We cannot afford to improvise when business continuity is at stake.

Ultimately, the reputational and financial risk posed by a cyberattack is not a technical issue—it is a matter of leadership. As executives, it is our responsibility to anticipate, invest wisely, and build a culture of resilience. Because when trust is lost, no technology can restore it; and when reputation is damaged, the cost is unimaginable.

Reference

• Cisco. 2025 Data Privacy Benchmark Study.
• Veeam. Tendencias de Ransomware y Estrategias Proactivas para 2025.
• CrowdStrike. Global Threat Report 2025.
• IBM. Cost of a Data Breach Report 2024.
• Kaspersky. IT Security Economics 2025.
• GBM & Cybersecurity Ventures. Costo Global de los Delitos Cibernéticos 2025.