The increasing frequency, sophistication, and ever-changing nature of cyber intrusions and data breaches continually challenge an organizations’ information technology and risk management teams and cause major business disruptions, public release of confidential information, reputational damage, and other negative financial and operational impacts.
According to the latest 2018 Cost of Data Breach annual study conducted by Ponemon Institute and sponsored by IBM Security, the average cost of a data breach globally is $3.86 million, a 6.4% increase from their 2017 report.
According to the study, the speed at which an organization can suppress a data breach incident has a direct impact on the financial consequences.
The average time to identify a data breach in the study was 197 days, and the average time to contain a data breach once identified was 69 days.
Companies who contained a breach in less than 30 days saved over $1 million compared to those that took more than 30 days ($3.09 million vs. $4.25 million average total)
Wendi Whitmore, Global Lead for IBM X-Force Incident Response and Intelligence Services (IRIS) sums it up that data vulnerability can be costly:
” …There are many hidden expenses which must be taken into account, such as reputational damage, customer turnover, and operational costs. Knowing where the costs lie, and how to reduce them, can help companies invest their resources more strategically and lower the huge financial risks at stake.”
When it comes to data breaches, time is money!
See the IBM/Ponemon Institute 2018 Cost of Data Breach Global Study highlights and to download their full report.