Study Cites Cybercrime's Rising Costs To Corporations

Follow CBSMIAMI.COM: Facebook | Twitter

NEW YORK (CBSMiami/AP) — Cybercrime is costing companies a significant amount of money and it's only climbing for those in the U.S. and overseas, according to new research.

A sixth-annual study, released Tuesday, by the Ponemon Institute pegged the average annual cost of cybercrime per large U.S. company at $15.4 million. That's up 19 percent from $12.7 million a year ago.

It also represents an 82 percent jump from Ponemon's inaugural study six years ago.

Individually, cybercrime costs for the U.S. companies surveyed varied dramatically, ranging from $1.9 million to $65 million. And the average cost of a cyberattack on a U.S. company rose 22 percent to $1.9 million from $1.5 million.

Globally, the average annualized cost of cybercrime increased 1.9 percent from last year to $7.7 million.

"As an industry we're getting better, but attacks are becoming much more invasive and sophisticated," said Andrzej Kawalec, chief technology officer for Hewlett-Packard Co.'s HP Enterprise Security, which sponsored the study and sells cybersecurity services to businesses.

The study examined the total cost of responding to cybercrime incidents, including detection, recovery, investigation and incident-response management. It also looked at after-the-fact expenses designed to prevent additional costs stemming from the potential loss of businessor customers.

Recent expensive and embarrassing breaches at companies including Target, Home Depot and Sony Pictures have prompted many companies to boost their cyberdefenses.

The study looked at a sample of 58 U.S. companies with at least 1,000 connections to its computer network. Globally, the study analyzed data from 252 companies in the U.S., United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Japan, Russia and Brazil.

(TM and © Copyright 2015 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2015 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or  redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

Read more
f

We and our partners use cookies to understand how you use our site, improve your experience and serve you personalized content and advertising. Read about how we use cookies in our cookie policy and how you can control them by clicking Manage Settings. By continuing to use this site, you accept these cookies.