Average cost of data breach now $3.8m

The total average cost of a data breach is now $3.8 million, up from $3.5 million a year ago, according to a study by data security research organization Ponemon Institute, paid for by International Business Machines Corp.

The directs cost include:

hiring experts to fix the breach
investigating the cause
setting up customer hotlines
credit monitoring offers for victims
lost business

The cost of a data breach is now $154 per record lost or stolen, up from $145 last year, according to the study, based on interviews with 350 companies from 11 major countries that had suffered a data breach.

Healthcare companies were found to be particularly vulnerable to attack by cyber-criminals, medical records hold much value on the underground markets as bonafide Social Security details are often more important than names, addresses or even credit card numbers.