Written by:
3/14/2011 9:36 AM 

The price of everything is going up. Gasoline, airplane tickets, even gallons of milk. It’s getting more and more expensive to live these days.

And, apparently, it’s getting more expensive to do business, too—especially when you are manager cleaning up after a security breach.

According to a recent study, “the average organizational cost of a data breach increased to $7.2 million and cost companies an average of $214 per compromised record, markedly higher when compared to $204 in 2009, according to the researchers.”

2010 will be the fifth year in a row that these numbers have increased—mainly because the scammers, hackers, and other fraud-peddlers that are committing these crimes are not letting up. The study also indicated that “malicious or criminal attacks are the most expensive breaches,” and more than a third of all breaches are malicious.

So where are the costs coming from? After a breach, companies are required to pay out for everything from notification campaigns to internal audits and detection studies. Plus, when a breach occurs in the public eye, customers leave—and customer turnover can be the death knell for any company, large or small.

So, here’s your word of warning: breaches are expensive and damaging. So stop them before they start. Consider penetration testing, social engineering audits, poster campaigns, and training as alternatives to costly and embarrassing clean-up efforts.

Read more here: http://www.darkreading.com/security/attacks-breaches/229300682/index.html

Then, learn about our social engineering awareness training, posters, and audits here: http://rocketready.com/FraudReady

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