Kaspersky Labs has issued its annual report on “Measuring the Financial Impact of IT Security on Businesses” after surveying more than 4,000 business representatives from 25 different countries. Some key findings of the report:
The cost of a single security incident for small to medium businesses averages over $86,000 and for large businesses over $860.000
In the past twelve months, thirty-eight percent of the businesses surveyed had experienced a virus or malware incident causing lost productivity
Thirty-six percent of responding businesses had experienced inappropriate use of IT resources by employees in the past year
The bulk of the cost for responding to a security incident comes in the form of additional internal staff wages, followed by lost business (for small to medium businesses) and damage to credit rating or increased insurance premiums (for large businesses)
The longer the business takes to react and respond to a security incident, the greater the financial impact will be.
See an executive summary and obtain a copy of the report here. Contact us at Ossian Law regarding any information technology law question.