INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
One of the questions I frequently ask startup founders is how much they&re spending on security
Unsurprisingly, everyone has a different answer.
Startups and small companies are invariably faced with the prospect that they&re either not
spending enough or are spending too much on something that hard to quantify in terms of value
It a tough sell to sink money into an effort to stop something that might one day happen, particularly for bootstrapped startups that must
make every cent count — yet we&re told security is a crucial investment for a company future.
Sorry to break it to you, but there is no
easy answer.
The reality is that each company is different and there is no single recommended dollar amount to spend
But it absolutely certain that some investment is required
We know because we see a lot of security incidents here at TechCrunch — hacks, breaches and especially data exposures, often a result of
human error.
We spoke to three security experts — a head of security, a security entrepreneur and a cybersecurity fellow — to understand
the questions facing startups.
Know and understand your threat model
Every company has a different threat model — by that, we mean
identifying risks and possible ways of attack before they happen
Companies that store tons of user data may be a greater target than companies that don&t
Each firm needs to evaluate which kind of risks they face and identify weaknesses.
