The True Cost of Not Investing in Security
A preventable breach with a priceless lesson
When news broke that the Louvre Museum had been robbed, it sounded like the plot straight from the upcoming Oceans 14 movie. As it transpired, thieves made off with over $100 million in jewels, bypassing what should have been one of the most sophisticated security systems in the world. Yet one of the most alarming discoveries wasn’t how advanced the attackers were (as we understand it, they weren’t a Clooney, Pitt or Damon, either). The actual surprise is how simple their way in turned out to be - and it’s only got worse in recent revelations, as it allegedly turns out that the password for the museum’s video-surveillance system was, quite literally, “Louvre.”
For an institution that represents art, history and national pride (and isn’t half bloody picturesque!), the consequences of a single weak credential were enormous: embarrassment on the global stage, operational shutdown, and questions about governance that will take years to answer.
The lesson is painfully clear, and it spreads beyond a Hollywood-sounding heist involving millions of pounds worth of missing tiaras, necklaces, and such. You can invest millions in infrastructure, but if the basics are neglected, the whole system is only as strong as its weakest password.
When security spend is seen as optional
Under-investment in cyber security rarely looks dramatic at first. It shows up as something as small as postponed upgrades, expired software licences, or training budgets that never stretch far enough.
But it doesn’t take much for short-term savings to become long-term losses that are much harder to quantify... until they hit.
In our work with mid-market and enterprise organisations across the UK, we often see the same pattern: risk registers list cyber threats as a “top concern,” yet the investment made to mitigate them doesn’t reflect the level of exposure. Equally, boards are aware of the risk, but they often delay acting on it until something goes wrong.
And when it does, the cost isn’t just financial.
1. The reputational hit is immediate
A security incident is no longer a private matter. Within hours, clients, suppliers and the press can know about it.
Reputation, which in many cases is a business's most valuable asset, takes the first blow. Customers question your reliability. Partners distance themselves to avoid association. Even recruitment and retention suffer when employees lose trust in how the business handles data and risk.
In the Louvre’s case, it’s somewhat different. It’s not like people aren’t going to see the Mona Lisa because of it, but how many other places have the equivalent of the most famous piece of art up their sleeve? There’s no doubting that global headlines turned what could have been a contained event into an international embarrassment. In business terms, such a loss of credibility can (and would) outweigh any direct financial penalty and could cripple most other institutions.
2. The regulatory fallout follows
Across Europe, regulators are tightening accountability. The NIS2 Directive, updates to ISO 27001, and the UK’s Cyber Essentials Plus framework are setting clear expectations that cyber resilience is a board-level responsibility.
Fines, mandatory disclosures and compliance remediation projects can cost far more than proactive investment ever would. Inaction also raises insurance premiums, or, in some cases, makes cover harder to obtain altogether.
So, if you’re viewing compliance as a tick box exercise, stop it. It’s the foundation of operational permission to trade and must be treated as such.
3. Operational disruption spreads fast
Every hour of downtime costs money and erodes trust. Incident response consumes internal teams, halts projects, and diverts leadership focus away from customers. The cost quickly snowballs too: forensic investigation, temporary infrastructure, specialist recovery support, and lost revenue are all factors to be mindful of.
Worse still, the road to recovery is rarely a linear process. Rebuilding systems, re-establishing controls and re-training staff can take months, and can only truly begin when you understand where and when the breach occurred. Further issues can arise here as well, since in many environments, critical audit and sign-in logs are typically retained for only 30 days by default. What this means is that if the incident happened outside that window, for example, the attackers got in 6 weeks ago, evidence of when and where they got in could already be gone, further complicating recovery attempts.
Many businesses underestimate this phase entirely, assuming “restoration” means returning to normal within days. It seldom does.
4. The supply chain amplifies every weakness
One of the defining patterns of 2025’s major breaches — from M&S to Heathrow or JLR — is that many originated through third parties. Attackers increasingly target vendors or partners with weaker defences, then move laterally through connected systems.
If your suppliers aren’t secure, you aren’t secure - and it’s not their name in the headlines. It’s yours. Despite this, many organisations still lack visibility into who has access to what and how that access is monitored.
Under-investing in shared security standards or supplier assessments leaves a business exposed to risks outside its direct control.
The financials: more than lost data
In 2025, industry data places the estimated average cost of a serious cyber breach for a UK medium-sized business at about £4.3 million, once downtime, investigation, remediation and reputational impact are factored in.
For UK small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), annual losses due to cyber-attacks were estimated at £3.4 billion total, with an average cost of around £3,398 for smaller businesses and £5,001 for those with 50+ employees.
Yet the most striking cost isn’t always measurable. As we touched on earlier, it’s the lost confidence from clients, investors and employees who expected better stewardship of their information.
Why investing properly pays back
Investment in cyber security isn’t just a defensive measure or something to be viewed as a “oh, that would be nice” or “if we must..” It delivers measurable returns in stability, operational continuity and customer confidence.
Here’s what practical investment means:
Regularly reviewing and rotating credentials
Enforcing multi-factor authentication across all systems
Continuous monitoring and threat detection
Structured incident response testing involving senior leadership
Regular supply-chain risk reviews and third-party due diligence
Employee awareness training tied to measurable outcomes
When done right, these steps reduce the likelihood of an incident and drastically limit its impact if one occurs.
Learning from the Louvre
The Louvre’s loss wasn’t just shiny rocks; it’s a cultural and reputational loss that has shown how even the world’s most famous institutions can fall if they underestimate the basics. Would a firewall or 2FA have really stopped the break-in from happening? Sure, maybe not. But would we be having a much broader discussion on the topic, rather than grimacing at hearing how they’ve allegedly treated basic cyber hygiene? Definitely.
But that’s also not to say you shouldn’t be reading it and saying ‘ah well, we’re not one of the famous galleries in the world, the most expensive thing in our office is a MacBook!/we only do manufacturing/we only have 10 staff/we only have one location in Slough’, or anything to those ends.
Whether you’re a business in the UK (or beyond), the takeaway is simple: you’re just as much at risk, but it just won’t receive the same publicity. Every organisation, regardless of size or industry, has something worth protecting. And people are coming for it each and every day.
Cyber resilience is not a capital expense; it’s a strategic discipline that underpins trust, continuity and value.
Where Fifosys can help
Fifosys partners with organisations across London, Essex, the West Midlands and Hampshire to build resilience that lasts. We focus on aligning technology, governance and people so that security isn’t just a toolset, but a continuous process of improvement.
If you’re re-evaluating your security investment for 2026, start by reviewing the essentials. We can help assess your current resilience position, benchmark your defences against modern frameworks, and create a roadmap that fits your operational and compliance goals.
After all, the true cost of not investing in security isn’t what you save today. It’s what you risk losing tomorrow.