2014-05-01
Abstract
Annual Information Security Breaches survey reveals a decrease in the number of breaches but an increase in the average cost of breaches.
Copyright © 2014 Virus Bulletin
This year’s Information Security Breaches survey, released to coincide with the Infosecurity Europe event in London, has revealed that over the last year, the number of security breaches affecting UK businesses has decreased slightly – but there has been a significant rise in the cost of individual breaches.
The survey, which is commissioned by the UK’s Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and conducted by PWC, found that 81% of large organizations suffered a security breach within the last year, compared with 86% the previous year, while 60% of small businesses suffered a breach in the last year, compared with 64% a year ago.
While a decrease in the number of security breaches may appear to be good news, the bad news is that the scale and cost of individual breaches has increased dramatically. Large organizations reported the average cost of the worst breaches they suffered to be in the range of £600k to £1.5m in the last year, compared with a range of £450k–£850k a year ago. Meanwhile, small businesses saw the average cost of their worst breaches rise from £35k–£65k a year ago to £65k–£115k in the last 12 months.
More encouragingly, the report also noted that overall investment in IT security is on the increase across all business sectors, with a particularly marked increase in IT security spending in small businesses.
The full report can be downloaded (PDF) from https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/information-security-breaches-survey-2014.
