Data breaches can have a devastating effect on an organization, and recent trends are showing that the cost of recovery from a data breach is rising. A recent study of company data breaches shows since 2013 that the average total cost of a data breach increased 15% to $3.5 million.

The study also found that the countries least likely to experience a data breach, Germany and Australia, would face the most costly breaches if attacked while the countries that are most likely to have a data breach occur, India and Brazil, have the least expensive data breaches.

The severity of a data breach is based on a few factors. Breaches vary based on industry and number of records lost. Some industries, like healthcare, are at a higher risk for data breaches and have a higher data breach cost than other industries.

Get the facts and read our 2014 study of company data breaches infographic.
A 2014 Study of Company Data Breaches. Don’t delay protect your data today: a study of company data breach. All participating organizations experienced a data breach ranging from 2,415 to 100,000 compromised records. The average total cost of a data breach had a 15% increase from 2013’s study to $3.5 million. In 2013, the cost per lost or stolen record was $136 each. In 2014, the cost per lost or stolen record is $ 145. Probability of a data breach involving a minimum of 10,000 records is 22%. Data breaches are based off of the industry and the number of records lost. The industries with the highest data breaches costs are healthcare, insurance, and pharmaceutical. The cost per capita of attacks from malware is $159, from a system glitch is $126, and from human error is $117. There is an additional $16.10 for lost or stolen devices to average cost per capita, and there is an additional $14.80 for third party involvement to average cost per capita. 52% of companies do not have a strategy for security to protect information assets. 62% of companies do not have a strategy to protect IT infrastructure. Although Germany and Australia are the least likely to have a data breach, if breached, Germany and Australia would have the most expensive cost associated closely followed by the US. While India and Brazil are the most likely to have a data breach that involves a minimum of at least 10,000 records, these countries also have the least costly data breaches.

Make sure you protect your data. With ADAPTURE, our expertise and experience can assist you in preventing a costly data breach. Our data breach solutions, data deconstruction and disk shredding, will help you keep sensitive information out of the wrong hands.

For more on data breaches, click here to read this ADAPTURE blog post about the security breaches of 2014.

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