The Cost of Data Breaches: It Ain't Cheap!

Reprinted with permission from FindLaw.com

What has been suspected now has been confirmed - the cost of data breaches is substantial. Indeed, a report titled "2009 Annual Study: Global Cost of Data Breach" shines a very bright light on the actual cost of activities stemming from more than 100 breach incidents across multiple industry sectors, numerous organizations, and a handful of different countries. The average global total cost of each data breach in 2009 was $3.43 million, with an average cost of $142 per affected record. And here in the United States, the average total cost per breach was a staggering $6.75 million, with an average cost of $204 per affected record.

The report compiled by the Ponemon Institute and sponsored by PGP Corporation, analyzed average costs of data breaches in Australia, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States. Perhaps not surprisingly, the costs were highest where data breach notification laws place requirements on