← ACARA Digital Technologies Years 9–10

Impact of a cyber attack on an organisation

The harm a cyber attack does to a business or group, such as downtime, recovery costs, lost customer trust, a damaged reputation and fines for breaking privacy laws.

Part of: ACARA Digital Technologies Years 9–10 — Cyber Security Threats and Vulnerabilities — Module 19, QCE Digital Solutions Unit 2 — Data-Driven Problems and Solution Requirements — Module 117, WA Computer Science ATAR Year 11 — Cyber Security — Module 60

Understanding Impact of a cyber attack on an organisation in ACARA Digital Technologies Years 9–10

What it does: Lost customer trust is the reputation impact. Customers leave when they believe their data is not safe. When systems stop working, the organisation cannot run normally. This lost time is called downtime. Recovery costs are the money spent fixing systems, restoring data and getting back to normal. Reputation is how others see the organisation. Public stories of a breach can make people lose confidence in it. The four main organisational impacts are downtime, recovery costs, loss of customer trust and fines. The other list is encryption vocabulary. The impact spreads across operations, finances, reputation and legal standing, so it is far wider than one device.

Common mistakes: The print call is missing its closing bracket. It should be print("Lost:", lost) so the downtime loss is shown. A double equals sign compares values. It does not store the recovery cost. Use a single = to assign: recovery = 15000.

Class: _____________________ · Name: _____________________ · Date: _________

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This module's key terms are also in a printable crossword (Modules 743–781) and word search (Modules 743–809).

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Learning

Duo

A ransomware attack locks a company's computers for three days and staff cannot take orders. Which impact is this?

Downtime: lost operationsFines for breaking privacy law

Matches

A cyber attack only affects the attacker's target computer, so the business itself is not harmed.

↓

An attack harms the whole organisation, not just one computer. It can cause downtime, costs, lost trust and fines.

Applying

Meanings

Term

organisational impact

Meaning

The harm a cyber attack does to a business or group, such as downtime, recovery costs, lost customer trust, a damaged reputation and fines for breaking privacy laws.

Practice

downtimeHours <- 12

Testing

Gaps

cost = lossPerHour hoursDown

Check Answer

Spots

3lost = hours * per_hour

4print("Lost:", lost

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Quick Questions

1. A ransomware attack locks a company's computers for three days and staff cannot take orders. Which impact is this?

A. Downtime: lost operations ✓

B. Fines for breaking privacy law

When systems stop working, the organisation cannot run normally. This lost time is called downtime.

2. Which cost is a recovery cost after a cyber attack?

A. Customers choosing to trust the business more

B. Paying experts to clean systems and restore data ✓

Recovery costs are the money spent fixing systems, restoring data and getting back to normal.

3. After a data breach, many customers close their accounts because they no longer feel safe. What is this?

A. A recovery cost

B. Loss of customer trust ✓

Customers leaving because they doubt the business can protect their data is a loss of trust. It also damages the organisation's reputation.

4. True or false: A cyber attack only harms an organisation while its systems are offline.

A. False: harm can last long after systems return ✓

B. True: harm ends when systems are back online

Lost trust, a damaged reputation, legal action and fines can continue for months or years after the attack.

5. An organisation fails to protect personal information and is penalised under privacy law. Which impact is this?

A. A fine ✓

B. Downtime

Organisations can be fined by regulators if they do not keep personal data safe. This is a legal penalty.

Match the Pairs

downtime → A period when systems are offline after an attack, so staff cannot work and customers cannot be served

recovery costs → Money spent on investigating the attack, restoring data, repairing systems and paying experts after an incident

After a data breach, customers stop trusting a business with their personal information and take their custom elsewhere → loss of customer trust

An organisation can be penalised by the regulator when a cyber attack shows it failed to protect personal data as privacy laws require → fines

A cyber attack only affects the attacker's target computer, so the business itself is not harmed. → An attack harms the whole organisation, not just one computer. It can cause downtime, costs, lost trust and fines.

Once the systems are switched back on, the attack has no further cost for the organisation. → Costs continue after systems return. There are recovery costs, a damaged reputation and possible fines, which can last for months.

Key Term

organisational impact

The harm a cyber attack does to a business or group, such as downtime, recovery costs, lost customer trust, a damaged reputation and fines for breaking privacy laws.

Fill in the Blanks

1. lossPerHour = 5000 hoursDown = 6 cost = lossPerHour * hoursDown

Hint: Type the arithmetic operator that multiplies the hourly loss by the hours the system was offline.

2. recovery = 12000 fine = 50000 total = recovery + fine

Hint: Type the arithmetic operator that adds the fine to the recovery cost.

3. lost = 250 if lost > 100: print("Trust lost")

Hint: Type the keyword that starts a decision, to check whether many customers left.

4. fine = 50000 if fine > 0: print("Legal penalty applied")

Hint: Type the comparison operator that checks the fine is greater than zero.

5. total = 30000 + 12000 + 50000 print("Total cost:", total)

Hint: Type the function name that displays the total cost of the attack on screen.

Spot the Error

Question 1

A hours = 6

B per_hour = 2000

C lost = hours * per_hour

D print("Lost:", lost

Line D — The print call is missing its closing bracket. It should be print("Lost:", lost) so the downtime loss is shown.

Question 2

A recovery == 15000

B legal = 4000

C total = recovery + legal

D print("Cost:", total)

Line A — A double equals sign compares values. It does not store the recovery cost. Use a single = to assign: recovery = 15000.

Question 3

A breach = True

B if breach

C fine = 50000

D print("Fine:", fine)

Line B — An if statement must end with a colon. The line should be if breach: so the fine code runs after a breach.

Question 4

A customers = 1000

B lost_pct = 0.2

C left = customers + lost_pct

D print("Left:", left)

Line C — To find how many customers leave, multiply the customer count by the percentage lost. Adding gives a meaningless number. It should be customers * lost_pct.

Question 5

A total = 0

B for cost in [500, 800, 1200]:

C total = total - cost

D print("Total:", total)

Line C — Each recovery cost must be added to the running total, not subtracted. It should be total = total + cost.

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