Data breaches cost Indian entities Rs5.35 crore each year: study
19 Apr 2012
Indian organisations are losing a total of Rs5.35 crore a year due to data breach with malicious hackers or criminal insiders being the most expensive type at Rs4,224 for one compromised record.
(Malicious attacks are ones in which attackers attempt to forcibly abuse or take advantage of someone's computer with the intent to steal personal information or reduce the functionality of a target computer.)
The cost of data breaches to Indian organisations was the subject of a study conducted by Ponemon Institute in partnership with Symantec. Symantec Corp has announced the results of the first of its kind study, which found that data breaches have serious, quantifiable consequences.
The study further put the cost of each stolen record to Indian organisations at Rs2,105 on an average.
While the average cost incurred in notifying customers or victims had been estimated at Rs15.6 lakh, costs incurred by victims for detecting and escalation was found to be higher at Rs1.64 crore.
Victims on an average lost Rs1.46 crore, suggesting that customers abandoned organisations following a breach. ''Rebuilding loyalty or maintaining reputation, therefore, proved far more expensive,'' notes the study.