The Average Data Breach Now Costs $3.8 Million

According to the latest research by Ponemon Institute, the average data breach now cost $3.8 million dollars, up from $3.5 million in 2014. As cyber-criminals get increasingly sophisticated, they have come to target more valuable data, including financial and medical records.

The Price Of An Attack

The study, which is based on interviews with 350 companies in 11 different countries, determined that companies now lose an average of $154 per individual record that is lost or stolen during a breach.

The average data breach can be a major blow to a company. Costs associated with a breach include experts hired to fix the breach, investigators hired to determine the cause of the breach, setting up services for affected customers, and legal fees associated and claims relating to the incident.

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In addition to the monetary costs of a breach, companies suffer intangible damage to their reputations, as customers must place their trust in the security of the business.

Big-Name Victims

Despite massive cybersecurity budgets, big-name companies are not immune to attacks. The list of recent victims includes Sony Corp (NYSE: SNE), JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM), Target Corp (NYSE: TGT) and The Home Depot Inc (NYSE: HD), all of which suffered a major breach in the past year and a half.

The Big Business Of Cybersecurity

While most businesses are fearful of the growing danger of cyber-attacks, cybersecurity companies are profiting off of it. Shares of FireEye Inc (NASDAQ: FEYE) are up more than 34 percent in the past year, while Palo Alto Networks Inc (NYSE: PANW) stock is up a whopping 141 percent in that time.