Because the median cost per incident is $130,000, most data breaches do not exceed the $1 million threshold.
Based on a review of 2,400 cyber incidents between 2017-2022 at 1,700 companies, Black Kite, a cyber risk monitoring company, concluded that the average cost, excluding outliers, of a data breach today is $15 million.
According to Black Kite’s 2022 report, The costs of a data breach: a new perspectiveWhen outliers are taken into account, the average cost of data breaches rises to $75 million. With the cost of cyber breaches rising at an average of 10% per year, the total cost of cybercrime could reach $10 trillion over the next three years, the report said. This is $7 trillion higher than the $3 trillion figure in 2015.
For companies with remote employees, the average cost per breach is $1 million higher than for companies without remote employees.
Most data breaches do not result in losses of millions of dollars, the report said. Just over half (51%) fall between $10,000 and $1 million, the report said. Fifteen percent fall between $1-10 million, 9% fall between $10-100 million, and 3% fall between $100 million and $1 billion. The rest is over $1 billion in total costs.
One in four organizations experienced a cyber attack in the past year, the report said. Many were attacked through third parties, as attackers made their way into target organizations. All companies analyzed for the report were 100% vulnerable to attacks due to legacy systems or software.
Organizations experiencing data breaches are more susceptible to future attacks. After fixing the initial vulnerability that caused the breach, too many people stop looking for more problems, the report said.
“Once an adversary has found a vulnerability to exploit, they gain confidence and can escalate to heavier attack methods,” the report said.
TO SEE: Mobile Device Security Policy (Tech Republic Premium)
Top Threat Actors
The ransomware group REvil that is linked to the Colonial Pipeline Attack has resurfaced after the intelligence service (FSB) of the Russian Federal Security Bureau seized 14 members of the gang along with their stock and halted operations. REvil attacks accounted for 3% of total ransomware attacks in 2021, the report said.
The next most common and financially devastating threat actor was: continuouswhich accounted for 10 attacks averaging $85 million per incident.
While the North Korea-based Lazarus Group responsible for a smaller number of attacks, the average cost per incident was significantly higher than the rest, coming in at $220 million.
“Notorious ransomware groups like Conti and REvil have invested money in their weapons to gather more information about their targets and find valuable assets like PII,” Ferhat Dikbiyik, head of research at Black Kite, said in the report. “Even if these groups disappear, we will continue to see a higher cost impact from attacks that have occurred as early as 2022 in the coming years.”
TO SEE: Password Breach: Why Pop Culture and Passwords Don’t Mix (Free PDF) (TechRepublic)
Industries targeted by cyberattacks
Because they contain so much sensitive data, finance and insurance are the most targeted sectors. Combined, they experienced the highest number of breaches with 445 at an average cost of $35 million per incident.
“Both sectors are also subject to the growing Internet of Things (IoT) challenge, where new technologies such as mobile banking, chatbots and online claims processing are driving greater interconnectivity than ever before,” the report said. “Many of these organizations use email to conduct financial transactions, which provides an opportunity for adversaries to join the process.”
Due to the limited resources and malicious intent of attackers to disrupt the everyday life of the average person, state and local governments are also prime targets. With 326 reported attacks costing $6 million each, these entities came in second on the list.
Other key findings:
- Seventy-nine percent of the 1,700 breached companies analyzed were highly susceptible to phishing
- Seventeen percent of the 1,700 breached companies analyzed were highly susceptible to ransomware
- The most wanted data was credentials, with compromised passwords responsible for 63% of breaches in 2022
- 19% of all breaches were caused by unsecured servers and databases
- While only 19 of the more than 2,400 incidents were responsible, the average cost per incident of an SQL injection attack was the second highest at $71 million
Reporting methodology
Black Kite Research conducted a global data breach cost analysis, compiled using OSINT techniques, encapsulating 2,400 data breach incidents from 2017-2022 at 1,700 companies. The cost analysis included information on legal fines, court settlements, ransom paid, victim reporting and business loss.
