• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

My TechDecisions

  • COVID-19 Update
  • Best of Tech Decisions
  • Topics
    • Video
    • Audio
    • Mobility
    • Unified Communications
    • IT Infrastructure
    • Network Security
    • Physical Security
    • Facility
    • Compliance
  • RFP Resources
  • Downloads
  • Podcasts
  • Subscribe
  • Project of the Week
  • About Us
    SEARCH
IT Infrastructure, Network Security, News

IBM Study: Average Cost of Data Breach $3.86M

According to an IBM study, data breaches cost $3.86 million on average, and compromised employee accounts were the most expensive root cause.

August 31, 2020 Zachary Comeau Leave a Comment

IBM Data Breach Study

It’s no secret that data breaches are a nuisance and an unfortunate part of doing business. And, according to a new IBM study, they are expensive.

The 2020 Cost of a Data Breach Report, sponsored by IBM Security and conducted by the Ponemon Institute, found that data breaches cost companies $3.86 million on average, and that compromised employee accounts were the most expensive root cause.

The study, which looked at data breaches at over 500 global organizations and interviewed more than 3,200 security professionals at organizations that suffered a data breach over the last year, found that 80% of these breaches resulted in the exposure of customers’ personally identifiable information. Those kinds of breaches were the costliest to remedy, the study found.

Stolen or compromised employee credentials, along with cloud misconfigurations, were the most common cause of a data breach, as nearly 40% of malicious data breaches were caused by those incidents.

According to the report, one out of five breaches was due to an attacker using previously exposed employee credentials.

Read Next: Workday, IBM Expand Return-to-Work Offerings

Misconfigured cloud networks were used by attackers nearly 20% of the time, increasing breach costs by more than $500,000.

State-sponsored attacks, which represent just 13% of breaches studied, were the most damaging, according to the report, leading ot an average cost of $4.43 million.

IBM found that advanced security technologies like artificial intelligence, automation, machine learning, analytics and others can help your business save money in the event of a breach. Specifically, that’s a cost-saving difference of $3.58 million for companies with fully-deployed security automation versus those without.

In addition, incident response preparedness can help keep costs low when responding to a data breach. Companies with neither an incident response team nor plans saw an average of $5.29 million in breach costs, compared to $2 million at companies that have both an incident response team and simulations.

“When it comes to businesses’ ability to mitigate the impact of a data breach, we’re beginning to see a clear advantage held by companies that have invested in automated technologies,” said Wendi Whitmore, Vice President, IBM X-Force Threat Intelligence. “At a time when businesses are expanding their digital footprint at an accelerated pace and the security industry’s talent shortage persists, teams can be overwhelmed securing more devices, systems and data. Security automation can help resolve this burden, not only supporting a faster breach response but a more cost-efficient one as well.”

Tagged With: Cybersecurity, Data Breach, IBM

Related Content:

  • ASSA ABLOY Medeco 4 Locking System ASSA ABLOY’s Medeco 4 Locking System Discourages Unauthorized…
  • Zoom Email Calendar Zoom Reaches One Million Zoom Phone Seats
  • Linux Foundation Blacks in Technology Linux Foundation, Blacks in Technology Announce New Scholarships
  • ROI of Cybersecurity The ROI of Cybersecurity

Free downloadable guide you may like:

  • Top 9 Reasons Enterprise IT Leaders Are Moving Their Video Surveillance to the Eagle Eye Cloud

    Working in IT has enough challenges without adding in the complications of surveillance video. Things like total cost of maintenance, how the VMA manages bandwidth, what cameras are supported, what level of cybersecurity is provided, and what integrations are available to use are important factors IT managers have to think about when assessing a video […]

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Get the FREE Tech Decisions eNewsletter

Sign up Today!

Latest Downloads

Top 9 Reasons Enterprise IT Leaders Are Moving Their Video Surveillance to the Eagle Eye Cloud

Working in IT has enough challenges without adding in the complications of surveillance video. Things like total cost of maintenance, how the VMA m...

Using Live Chats and Chatbots to Increase Customer Engagement

There's a lot to consider when building out a chatbot experience to ensure that it delivers a seamless experience and meet your business goals.

Finding a New Balance

The shift to a hybrid work environment is a trend that has increased in popularity over many years. The COVID-19 pandemic has spurred this trend, f...

View All Downloads

Would you like your latest project featured on TechDecisions as Project of the Week?

Apply Today!
Sharp Microsoft Collaboration HQ Logo

Learn More About the
Windows Collaboration Display

More from Our Sister Publications

Get the latest news about AV integrators and Security installers from our sister publications:

Commercial IntegratorSecurity Sales

Footer

TechDecisions

  • Home
  • Welcome to TechDecisions
  • Subscribe to the Newsletter
  • Contact Us
  • Media Solutions & Advertising
  • Comment Guidelines
  • RSS Feeds
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Linkedin

Free Technology Guides

FREE Downloadable resources from TechDecisions provide timely insight into the issues that IT, A/V, and Security end-users, managers, and decision makers are facing in commercial, corporate, education, institutional, and other vertical markets

View all Guides
TD Project of the Week

Get your latest project featured on TechDecisions Project of the Week. Submit your work once and it will be eligible for all upcoming weeks.

Enter Today!

© 2021 Emerald X, LLC. All rights reserved.