The more advanced the cybercrimes, the more sophisticated and expensive the tools used to prevent them. Costs are also related to monies invested to discover the source of the attack, disruption of the attack to normal functioning of businesses and the aftermath expenses to remediate them. There was a 26% increase in money spent in 2013 compared to 2012 per the report produced by the Ponemon Institute and sponsored by Hewlett-Packard’s enterprise security unit. It is up 78% compared to the first reports produced 4 years ago.
The jump in percentage from one year to the other was based on just the expenses that occured after an incident was detected. This generally means aside of the expenditures such as fines from card brands and payments to customers, the investments on applications, networks, infrastructures, consulting charges to have data security in place are constantly increasing as well.
According to the report, companies would be most secure and keep their expenses low if their revamp of data security measures were in line with the worst threats. Basics such as an anti-virus product would not cut it. Businesses, especially large enterprises should invest in security intelligent systems. The pre-investment in the best technology will outweigh the expenses incurred after becoming a victim to cybercrime.
Stay tuned. Stay educated. Stay connected. It’s all about data security.
