---
title: Why Investors Must Prioritize Cybersecurity
description: Cyber threats are rising fast—and ignoring them could cost millions. Explore key insights from the Waste Expo360 Investor Summit with Foresite President Marc Brungardt.
---

[Security Blog ](https://foresite.com/blog)

# [Why Investors Must Prioritize Cybersecurity](https://foresite.com/blog/cybersecurity-investor-risks-waste-expo-insights)

 Written by [Marc Brungardt](https://foresite.com/blog/author/marc-brungardt) | May 20, 2025

# Cybersecurity: Ignore It at Your Own Peril

## * Insights from Waste Expo360 Investor Summit*

[Originally posted on LinkedIn by Marc Brungardt](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/cybersecurity-ignore-your-own-peril-insights-from-waste-brungardt-qct3f/)

Just back from [Waste Expo360 Investor Summit](https://www.wasteexpo.com/) in Las Vegas, where I had the privilege of speaking on a critical topic for today’s business leaders and investors: cybersecurity—and why ignoring it is a dangerous gamble.

If you couldn’t attend, here’s a summary of key insights and some practical advice to help you assess and strengthen your cybersecurity posture.

## 1. Define the Risk

Cybercrime is a $10 trillion global threat. It’s no longer just about nation-state actors. Ransomware gangs and cybercriminals target industries like waste management because of their operational complexity and lack of cybersecurity maturity.

The stakes? Extortion, disruption, and long-term damage.

The impacts of a breach include:

- **Financial Losses**
  
    - Direct: incident response, legal fees, fines, ransomware payments.
    - Indirect: downtime, lost customers, rising premiums, long-term revenue loss.
- **Reputational Damage**
  
    - Customer churn, negative press, partner attrition.
- **Regulatory Consequences**
  
    - Fines, lawsuits, audits, and compliance failures.
- **Operational Disruption**
  
    - Downtime, lost productivity, critical systems offline.
- **Loss of IP and Competitive Advantage**
- **Future Security Costs**
  
    - Upgrades, new tooling, employee training, insurance hikes.

These risks can be proactively identified through a [security assessment](https://foresite.com/solutions/security-assessments) tailored to your business.

**  
As an investor, ask yourself:**

- Are we prepared for a multi-day ransomware incident?
- Do we have incident response and disaster recovery plans?
- Are we aligned with our cyber insurance terms?
- How exposed is our portfolio to these operational and financial risks

 

## 2: Artificial Intelligence (AI): The Force Multiplier for Attackers

AI is now central to both offensive and defensive cyber strategy.

Adversaries use AI to:

- Automate and scale phishing with natural language precision.
- Clone voices and generate deepfakes to bypass identity checks.
- Write evasive, adaptive malware.
- Gather open-source intel and craft personalized attacks.
- Bypass AI security tools using adversarial inputs and bots.

We explore many of these risks and countermeasures on our [AI Security](https://foresite.com/solutions/ai-security) page.

The result? Lower barriers to entry for cybercriminals and more sophisticated, believable attacks—at scale.

 

## 3. How We’re Countering with AI + Google Cloud

At Foresite, we’re leveraging the best of [Google Cloud Security](https://foresite.com/google)’s AI-driven capabilities to defend against these evolving threats:

- **Anomaly Detection** using machine learning across networks and behavior baselines.
- **Advanced Malware Analysis** that identifies zero-days and polymorphic threats.
- **Intelligent Alert Prioritization** to cut through noise.
- **Automated Incident Response** using SOAR and intelligent triage.
- **Predictive Security** to identify emerging tactics before they land.

 

## 4. Will Every System Eventually Be Hacked?

In short—yes, eventually. No system is invulnerable. The question is whether you’re ready when it happens.

**Why breaches are inevitable:**

- Attackers evolve constantly—and now use AI.
- Software is never 100% secure.
- Human error persists.
- Zero-days can’t always be patched in time.

**What matters most:**

- Minimizing the impact of a breach.
- Detecting fast and responding even faster.
- Designing systems for resilience.

With 24/7 SOC support and MXDR capabilities, [Foresite Citadel](https://foresite.com/catalyst/citadel) empowers organizations to detect, contain, and respond to threats before they escalate.

 

### 5. The One Most Important Thing? There Isn’t One.

The moderator asked: *“What’s the one thing every business should do to be secure?”***

There isn’t just one.

Security is a system, not a silver bullet. MFA might be the best first step for a small firm. For a large enterprise, it’s incident response testing. It depends on your maturity and risk.

What works:

- **People**: Employee education and vigilance.
- **Process**: Sound policies and tested procedures.
- **Technology**: The right tools, deployed intelligently.

This is where [vCISO services](https://foresite.com/solutions/vciso) deliver board-level cybersecurity leadership, aligning strategy, governance, and policy with business risk.

 

### Final Thought: Security is a Shared Responsibility

> Cybersecurity is now a boardroom issue. Investors must demand transparency, prioritize security posture, and align with experienced partners. As our digital and physical worlds converge, securing your operations also secures your investment.

[View full post](https://foresite.com/blog/cybersecurity-investor-risks-waste-expo-insights)

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