Cost of data breaches gets higher

A data breach is more than just a headache for an IT executive. It's likely to affect your bottom line in a big way. The Ponemon Institute's annual study of the cost of data breaches finds that these costs rose from $6.65 million in 2008 to $6.75 million in 2009.

Taken on a case-by-case basis, it doesn't sound like much. In 2009, data breach incidents costs U.S. companies $204 per compromised customer record compared to $202 in 2008.

It's not that simple. There are other factors, according to Ponemon, including loss of business, legal fees and the importance of a customer disclosing the breach to its own customers.

The most expensive data breach event in the 2009 survey cost one company nearly $31 million to resolve. The least expensive one was $750,000, the report said.

"In the five years we have conducted this study, we have continued to see an increase in the cost to businesses for suffering a data breach," said Dr. Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder of the Ponemon Institute. "With a variety of threat vectors to contend with, companies must proactively implement policies and technologies that mitigate the risk of facing a costly breach."

For companies trying to save money, that means you can pay now or pay later. You can spend money to secure your system or pay out when the system is breached. Neither is a very pleasant choice.

The year 2010 is not expected to be an exception to the increasing number of data breaches. This time around, experts say, it's imperative to protect your systems rather than hope you will avoid an attack.

For more on the Ponemon study:
- see this PCWorld.com article
- and see the complete study

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