The cost of cybercrime has risen nearly 40 percent

According to research released by HP today, cybercrime and related costs are on an upward trend for the third year in a row.

Its third annual survey of U.S. firms shows that the incidence of cyber-attacks has more than doubled in the past three years, and the level of related costs has risen nearly 40 percent.

In the benchmark sample of the study conducted by the Ponemon Institute, the average annual cost of cyber attacks on the U.S. organizations surveyed was $ 8,9 million. This represents a 6 percent increase over 2011 and an increase of more than 38 percent over the 2010 average cost. The 2012 study showed a 42 percent increase in the number of cyber attacks. This means that an average of 102 successful attacks are carried out against organizations per week - compared to seventy-two in 2011 and fifty in 2010. 

Malicious codes, denials of service, stolen or hijacked devices, or malicious insiders continue to be the most costly cyber-attacks. Together, these causes account for more than 78 percent of the annual cost of cybercrime to an organization.

Other main findings:

Information theft and business disruption continue to be the biggest external costs. Information theft accounts for 44 percent of total external costs on an annual basis, which is 4 percent higher than in 2011. Business disruptions or lost productivity result in 30 percent of external costs, a 1 percent increase over 2011. 

The introduction of advanced security intelligence solutions mitigates the consequences of cyber attacks. Customers using security information and event management (SIEM) solutions have saved nearly $ 1,6 million in costs annually. These organizations had much lower costs for recovery, detection, and attack management than their non-SIEM counterparts. 

Computer attacks come at a serious cost if you fail to respond quickly. It takes an average of 24 days to repair the damage caused by a cyber attack, but according to this year’s study, it can take up to 50 days. The cost incurred over the 24-day period averaged $ 591, an increase of 780 percent from the previous year’s $ 42 average 18-day response time. 

Restoration and detection continue to be the two most costly internal resource activities for cybercrime. These works account for almost half of the total internal costs on an annual basis. The major part of the total cost is operating expenses and live labor costs.

 

Source: Press release