How a Single Data Breach Can Cost You Millions of Dollars

With all of the major data breaches making the news these days, it’s not very surprising when you hear about a new one. However, what is surprising is just how much the average cost per breach has skyrocketed in recent years. The cost of data breaches is up 29 percent since 2013, which equates to roughly $4 million per data breach.

This sobering statistic is from a recent study by the Ponemon Institute and IBM Data. In it, 283 international companies that experienced a major data breach were examined. Here are some more findings from the study:

• The United States leads in terms of sheer overall cost of breaches by record value. The value per record is $223 on average. In total, the average cost of a data breach in the United States was roughly $7.01 million.
• Particular industries, like healthcare, education, and finance, have a higher value per record at $355, $246, and $221 respectively.
• 48 percent of all data breaches were the result of malicious intent, like hacking attacks and network infiltrations.
• Encryption and other security protocol decrease the costs of data breaches by up to $16/record.
• How quickly a company responded to the security breach had a positive impact on the overall cost of the breach.
• There’s a 26 percent chance that an enterprise will be hit by one or more data breaches of over 10,000 records within the next two years.

It’s important to keep in mind that this study doesn’t track the reputation fallout that a business experiences after news of their data breach goes public. This includes future customers choosing another business, as well as losing clientele. It’s difficult to put a number to factors like these, but one thing’s for sure; it will certainly be a major loss for any business that experiences a data breach. Reasons like these are why the average business that fails to recover their lost data after a breach will go out of business within one year of the incident.

Do you think that you’ve got what it takes to bounce back from a costly data breach? If you’re unprepared and you don’t have a proper data backup solution or your business continuity plan is inadequate, then you’re in for a world of hurt.

Therefore, how much should you invest in a quality data backup solution? Before you make your decision, consider three more relevant points of interest from the study.

Cost per record from data theft due to malicious intent: $236. This is data that’s considered lost or stolen due to hacking attacks like ransomware or viruses. This category is virtually limitless with thousands of new strains of malware released on the Internet every single day.
Cost per record from data loss due to hardware failure: $213. This is data that’s lost due to system malfunction or hardware failure, like a server or workstation crashing unexpectedly. The good news; hardware failure is relatively easy to safeguard yourself against if you follow best practices and perform routine maintenances on all of your equipment.
Cost per record from data loss due to human error: $197. This is data that’s lost due to the actions of the user. It could be from intentional actions like sabotage by a disgruntled employee, but it’s often accidental, like moving a file to the wrong place or deleting something important. The best way to protect yourself from human error is by educating everybody who accesses your company’s data; a tall task if your staff consists of computer novices.

The takeaway from all of this is that your data is perhaps worth more than what you realized. Therefore, you need to protect your company with solutions that can minimize the risk of threats and help you bounce back quickly, should a breach ever occur. k_Street Consulting, LLC has the enterprise-level security solutions that you need, like firewall, antivirus, spam-blocking, content filtering, backup and disaster recovery, and more, to ensure your business won’t be derailed by an unforeseen data breach. To learn how we can best protect you, call us today at (202) 640-2737.