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The cost of a Data Breach
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We all need to be aware of the dangers of data breaches.
According to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse there have been
165,937,599 confirmed individual records compromised since January
2005. That means that 165,937,599 records have been put at risk of
identity theft.
This table shows the actual number of security breaches from the year 2006 and the number of records compromised. Only 327 companies had breaches but the amount of compromised information is staggering. Also notice how many victims of convicted identity thieves there are in comparison to the amount of convicted thieves. It works out to an average of 47.6 victims per thief.
In this next table we see the breakdown of the breaches according to the source. Other than Higher Education incidents the outside hacker is responsible for less than 20% of the breaches which means the breach originated within the company itself. Education and knowledge are a requirement to preventing breaches of this type.
Chronology of Data Breaches 2006: Analysis
*Information from the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. www.privacyrights.org.
We all understand the problem from the consumer's point of view. Let's look at it from a business perspective to see how a breach can affect your bottom line. After all we are all business owner's of one type or another. The Ponemon Institute recently published a white paper titled 2006 Annual Study:Cost of a Data Breach. They studied "31 organizations that lost confidentiail customer information and had a regulatory requirement to publicly notify affected individuals." The study breaks down the costs to a business in discovering, notifying and post notification actions. Of greatest interest is page 15 which outlines the average cost per record lost. I won't go into complete detail but will give you a bit of information to think about. These are the combined costs of direct impact and lost productivity Detection and escalation (internal investigation, legal, audit and consulting) $11.28 Initial notification (letters, e-mails, telephone, published media and websites) $25.19 Post notification (Mail, e-mail, telephone, legal defense, criminal investigations, public or investor relations, and free or discounted services) $47.39 Brand impact (turnover and loss of new customers) $98.32 Total $182.17 This is the cost per individual record. It's not hard to do the math from here. If only 10 records were lost from your business, that's almost $2,000.00 you have lost either through the direct impact or loss of productivity. This does not take into account the losses due to potential fines, lawsuits or settlements. The truth is we need to take this situation seriously. We either think I'll worry about it later or, it won't happen to me. We are almost daily receiving warnings in the guise of another reported breach. We have to adopt a new attitude and the attitude is "YET" You're Eligible Too! get protected before it happens to you |
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Comments (4)
 HP: 259  |
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| Just remember, A breach doesn't have to occur through the internet. Radio Shack and a company called EZ Pawn are facing lawsuits here in Texas for throwing paper files in the garbage. They did not shred the information. Luckily it was reported to the police and the files were secured. But in the normal scheme of things these files should now be evidence which means it's in an evidence room somewhere waiting for a trial.
get protected before it happens to you |
 HP: 1 |
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| I've lived in rual Oklahoma all my life.
Here we don't lock out doors, we leave our keys in the car (sometime even when I go to town) So, I'm probably too trusting when it come to the internet. It's good information. Lee Poulson 580-995-3138 www.getpaidtochangetheworld.biz |
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HP: 259 |
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| You're welcome
get protected before it happens to you |
 HP: 131 |
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| nice info! thanks cheryl!!!
Invite Friends Hang out Get PAID!! |
