Key Highlights from the 17th Cost of a Data Breach Report

The leading benchmark report in the cybersecurity industry, 17th Edition of the Cost of a Data Breach Report is finally here offering a lens into dozens of factors that can increase or help mitigate the rising cost of data breaches.

Top Facts and Statistics from the Report:

1. The average total cost of a data breach increased by nearly 10% over 2020-21, the largest single-year cost increase in the last seven years.
2. Remote working and digital transformation due to the Covid 19 pandemic increased the average total cost of a data breach by $1.07 Mn.
3. Healthcare sector had the highest average cost of a data breach for the 11th year in a row.
4. Lost business represented the largest share of breach costs, at an average total cost of $1.59 Mn.
5. Customer PII(personally identifiable information) was the most common type of record lost, included in 44% of the data breaches.
6. 20% of the data breaches were initially caused by compromised credentials.
7. Average number of days to identify and contain a data breach was 287 days.
8. Average cost of a mega breach was $401 Mn for breaches between 50 – 65 Mn which increased from $392 Mn in 2020.
9. Security AI and Automation had the biggest positive cost impact.
10. Ransomware and destructive attacks were costlier than other types of breaches at an average total cost of $4.62 Mn.

The four cost centers to calculate the total cost of a data breach are:
– Detention and escalation
– Lost business
– Notification, and
– Post-breach responses.

What are the key findings from the research of the Report?

1. Global average total cost of a data breach was $4.24 Mn.
2. The top five countries and regions for an average total cost of a data breach were the U.S., Middle East, Canada, Germany, and Japan.
3. The top five industries for the average total cost of a data breach were Healthcare, Financial, Pharmaceuticals, Technology, and Energy.
4. The top five types of records compromised in a data breach were Customer PII, Anonymized customer data, Intellectual property, employee PII, and other sensitive data.
5. $5.01 Mn was the average cost of a data breach caused by a business email compromise.
6. $4.87 Mn was the average cost of a breach with a lifecycle of over 200 days.
7. $5.65 Mn was the average cost of a breach at organizations with high-level compliance failures.
8. Only about one-third of organizations have a zero-trust approach.
9. The average cost of a data breach at organizations with security AI and Automation fully deployed was $2.90 Mn.
10. Average cost of the data breach was comparatively lesser when there was mature use of AI platforms.
11. Average cost of a data breach where 81-100% of employees were working remotely was $5.54 Mn.
12. Three major components of a financial loss are: Fines, Lost business, and response.

What are the 7 Recommendations to help minimize the financial impacts of a data breach?

– Invest in security orchestrations, automation, and response (SOAR) to help improve detection and response time.
– Stress-test your incident response plan to increase cyber resilience.
– Adopt a zero-trust security model to help prevent unauthorized access to sensitive data.
– Use tools that help protect and monitor endpoints and remote employees.
– Invest in governance, risk management, and compliance programs.
– Protect sensitive data in cloud environments using policy and encryption.
– Embrace an open security architecture and minimize the complexity of IT and security environments.

Visit tsaaro.com to know more about how we can help you safeguared your organizations from data breaches.