Failing to follow cybersecurity rules like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) can lead to big problems for organizations. These problems can be divided into three main areas: money issues, legal troubles, and damage to their reputation.

1. Money Issues:

   • GDPR: Organizations could get fined up to €20 million or 4% of their total earnings worldwide, whichever amount is higher. In 2022, fines in Europe went over €1.1 billion!
   • HIPAA: Breaking these rules can mean fines between $100 and$50,000 for each violation. If an organization repeats violations, they could face up to $1.5 million in fines each year.

2. Legal Troubles:

   • Not following the rules can lead to lawsuits from people affected by the data breaches. It can also cause government investigations, which means a lot of time and money spent in court. In fact, 73% of companies expect they’ll face legal action because of data leaks.

3. Damage to Reputation:

   • If a company doesn’t follow the rules, they might lose their customer’s trust. A survey by IBM found that 77% of people would stop doing business with a company that has a data breach.
   • Companies might also see their stock prices drop. For example, a public data breach can lead to an average drop of 7.27% in their share price.

Knowing about these problems is really important for managing risks in cybersecurity and keeping up with the law.