Data breaches cost UK firms £1.4m

The business impact of a series of high-profile data breaches has been thrown into stark light, as a new study shows that the average cost of such an incident is £1.4m.

Incidents such as the HM Revenue & Customs loss of 25m child benefit records and the theft of credit card information from the parent company of retailer TK Maxx has heightened public concerns of data safety. But until now there has been scant information about the business impact of such episodes.

Privacy research firm, the Ponemon Institute studied 21 serious breaches, involving between 2,500 records to 125,000. The most serious incident is estimated to have cost the firm involved almost £3.8m.

The chief cost for businesses affected was reported to be loss of business: 36 per cent of respondents report higher than average custom churn rates following an incident.

And while those affected appear to have learned from the lessons, by subsequently deploying encryption and data protection technologies, Ponemon Institute chairman Larry Ponemon is scathing about lax attitudes in the UK. He suggested UK businesses leaders are five years behind their US counterparts in recognising the threat.

“Businesses and government in the U.K are just now coming to realise the impact a data breach can have on an organisation and its customers,” he said.

In related news, anti virus vendor F-Secure has launched the latest version of its Anti Virus for Windows Servers software solution, featuring improved malware scanning technology and better performance, according to the firm.

The announcement follows F-Secure's recent entry into the software-as-a-service space, with the launch last week of its Protection Service for Businesses (PSB) solution.

PSB is designed to automate the protection of desktop computers, laptops and file servers and free up the IT department for other tasks, according to F-Secure. It features an easy-to-use web-based management interface alongside firewall, intrusion prevention, application control, rootkit detection and proactive protection capabilities with the vendor’s DeepGuard technology.

See also:

Lords to launch follow-up security report

Science and Technology Committee disappointed with government response to its 2007 report  21 Feb 2008

500 government devices missing highlights need for clearer processes

The sheer number of laptops lost, or misplaced, by the government highlights the need for tech solutions  20 Feb 2008

Data protection must be global

In light of recent data losses, outsourcers are being urged to prioritise security processes  18 Feb 2008

Government data disasters continues

The public sector's ability to manage data has once again been called into question  14 Feb 2008

MoD breach puts more data at risk

Breach of security protocol at Ministry of Defence allowed access to soldiers' personal details  12 Feb 2008

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