Privacy and information management research firm Ponemon Institute, together with PGP Corporation, a global leader in trusted data protection, today announced the results of the first-ever global study into the costs incurred by organisations after experiencing a data breach. The 2009 Annual Study: Global Cost of a Data Breach report, compiled by The Ponemon Institute and sponsored by PGP Corporation, assesses the actual cost of activities resulting from more than one hundred real life breach incidents, affecting organisations from 18 different industry sectors.
The research shows that the average cost of a data breach globally stood at USD3.43 million last year, the equivalent of USD142 per compromised customer record. However, costs varied dramatically between regions, from USD204 per lost record in the U.S., down to USD98 per record in the UK. A total of 133 organisations, located in five countries – Australia, France, Germany, UK and U.S. – participated in the research, which was undertaken during 2009. The average costs of a data breach in all five countries were as follows….
See the full press release on PGP.
Andy Greenberg has some commentary on the study over on Forbes.