The Key to Reducing Data Breach Impacts: Ponemon Institute’s 2017 Cost of Data Breach Study

With the odds of experiencing a data breach as high as 1 in 4, how long would it take your business to identify and contain an incident?
The Ponemon Institute’s 2017 Cost of Data Breach Study showed a global 10% decrease over last year in the average total cost of a data breach. One of the top cost-reducing factors for three years running continues to be access to a rapid-response team through outsourced IT services, such as Protelligent^®.
Here is a brief overview of Ponemon’s Global Study released in June:

• Study included 419 companies in 13 country or regional samples
• $3.62 million is the average total cost of a data breach
• 10% one-year decrease in average total cost
• $141 is the average cost per lost or stolen record
• 11.4% one-year decrease in the per record cost
• 27.7% likelihood of a recurring material data breach over the next two years
• 2.1% increase in the likelihood of a recurring material data breach

While there was a global decrease of 10% in the average cost from last year, the elements that impact the cost of a data breach are affected by the country and the IT initiatives in progress. In the United States, the financial impacts of data breaches are far more dramatic.
Here is a cost breakdown for the United States:

• 52% of U.S. data breaches were caused by malicious or criminal attacks
• $7.35 million total-average data breach cost
• 28,512 average records were compromised
• $244 average cost per compromised record

The study’s findings also included costs incurred after detection and response for things such as legal expenses, identity protection services and loss of revenue due to problems with customer retention and diminished business reputation. The top 4 industries affected by cyber attacks were health, financial, services and education.
The good news is businesses do not have to compromise by shifting their time and focus away from innovation and revenue-growth strategies to navigate the ever-changing complexities of cybersecurity, or face potential financial devastation. Having an incident response team that can respond immediately is the key to reducing the impact of a cyber attack by identifying and containing a breach, as well as remediation of the threat. Outsourced IT service providers have the expertise and knowledge necessary to deliver the highest level of rapid response and incident response services that can easily be incorporated into an organization’s existing security program, and many offer fully managed, end-to-end packages for even greater peace of mind.
Strong security initiatives and the experience to see them through quickly and effectively are the best way to ensure an organization’s financial health and credibility. Protelligent’s Premontion™ Security Suite provides a multi-layered approach with expert guidance in creating customized programs that leverage the latest global-threat intelligence, along with rapid response to advanced threats and remediation, as well as complete security program design, implementation and management.
Know your risk. Contact Protelligent today at 855-PRO-TELL to schedule a time for us to complete a review of your organization’s security needs.
If you would like to review the complete Ponemon 2017 Cost of Data Breach Study, you can do so here.
Ponemon Institute’s Cost of Data Breach 2017 Study