Report: Majority of cyber security breaches occur because of negligence

SUBNET Solutions Inc | Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Funding tends to flow to departments within businesses that are most in need of it and this year, analysts assert that companies plan to spend billions of dollars defending their computer networks from cyber security attacks.

According to a report from Consumer Reports, U.S.-based businesses will invest more than $130 billion this year as they fight data breaches and other cyber security infiltrations. The uptick in spending is caused by the growing sophistication of hackers, according to experts.

The cyber security research firm Ponemon Institute issued the findings in a report that studied the significant financial toll that hackers have on businesses.

With the ongoing development of the smart grid in the U.S., industry analysts - along with the Obama Administration - have urged operators of critical infrastructures to overhaul their own cyber security measures.

The report found that the majority of network breaches are caused by company negligence, meaning that many businesses are failing to adopt best practices in their cyber security protocols. Twenty-four percent of attacks, however, were deemed to be malicious.

The average data breach costs a business about $4.5 million in total, the report concluded. What's more, a data breach results in a loss of 3.7 percent of a company's customer base on average. 

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