7 tactics for winning the cyber war, Part 1: The issue

This is the first of our 9-part series based on the information from our latest white paper – a complete copy is available by request.

Per the 2015 Ponemon Institute Cost of Data Breach Study, the risks associated with data breaches could not be higher:

• The average cost of a data breach is $6.5 million – $217 per compromised record
• The average cost for crisis services, including forensics, notification, and legal guidance is approximately $370,000
• The average cost for legal defense is $700,000
• The average cost for legal settlement is $560,000
• Post data breach costs average $1.64 million
• Lost business costs per data breach average $3.7 million

The 2014 Ponemon study revealed equally important insight:

• 62 percent of consumers said breach notification decreased trust and confidence in the organization
• 15 percent would terminate their relationship with the notifying company (39 percent would consider terminating)
• 94 percent believe an organization reporting a breach is solely to blame for the breach

Clearly, cybersecurity isn’t just an IT issue – it’s a corporate strategy issue that affects everything from your company’s bottom line to your top level executives and directors. In fact, the next generation of cyber attackers are targeting these high profile individuals and using their personal information to move throughout an organization. Unfortunately, what many of these executives, directors and board members don’t realize is that they can face personal risk and liability when a cyber attack occurs.

In this series of posts, we’ll be looking at existing regulatory guidance, expert analysis and case law, and providing you with seven strategies to help protect your business and your officers and directors in the midst of today’s cyber war.

Want all the info on all seven strategies right now? Request a copy of our complete white paper “7 tactics for winning the cyber war: Battles strategies for directors and officers.”