[Dataloss] Security Breach Costs Jump 30%

[security curmudgeon]

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From: InfoSec News <alerts at infosecnews.org>

http://www.baselinemag.com/article2/0,1540,2223732,00.asp

By Deborah Gage
Baseline
November 28, 2007

The cost of recovering from a single data breach now averages $6.3 
million-that's up 31 percent since 2006 and nearly 90 percent since 2005, 
according to the Ponemon Institute, which studies privacy and information 
management.

Two-thirds of that cost is spent recovering business that's lost after a 
breach, a cost that has risen 30 percent since last year. More customers 
stop doing business with a company after their information is exposed, and 
it's getting more expensive to replace them.

"As consumers and end users get more educated, I think there's less 
tolerance," says John Dasher, the director of product management for PGP, 
which, along with Vontu, co-sponsored the Ponemon study. Companies known 
to have suffered a breach were contacted by Ponemon, and 35 agreed to 
respond.

The companies surveyed were from 16 industries and lost anywhere from 
4,000 to 125,000 records. They spent an average of $197 per lost record 
investigating the breach, notifying customers, restoring security 
infrastructures and recovering lost business.

[..]