New Ponemon Institute Data: Breaches More Costly

The Washington Post and other news organizations are highlighting the results from a new study conducted by the Ponemon Institute. The results - an average cost of $202 for each record lost in a data breach.

The Washington Post article, Data Breaches Are More Costly Than Ever, provides another excellent resource for CSOs and CISOs to make their business case for security to company and government executives world-wide. Here's an excerpt:

"Ponemon Institute, a Tucson based research firm, looked at 43 organizations that reported a data breach last year and found that roughly $202 was spent on each consumer record compromised. The average number of consumer records exposed in each breach was about 33,000, although the number of records affected in each incident ranged from fewer than 4,200 to more than 113,000.

Eighty-four percent of the companies surveyed had at least one data breach or loss prior to 2008, said Larry Ponemon, the institute's founder. The cost of a breach in 2007 was $6.3 million, and roughly $4.7 million in 2006."

The Ponemon Institute's website has become a leading source of information related to privacy and security for news organizations world-wide. I am amazed at the coverage they always receive for their reports, but it shows that meaningful metrics get good coverage.

What are your thoughts on this report?