Comments
Data breaches are not just serious, but costly too. While much has been written about data breaches per se, Symantec's first annual ‘Cost of Data Breach Study among Indian organisations', shows that it costs India Inc as much as Rs 5.35 crore.
The study, conducted in partnership with Poneman Institute, was done to assess the cost of data breaches among Indian organisations.
Findings reveal that malicious attacks have been the costliest type of data breach in India. The cost of one compromised record due to such attacks by hackers or criminal insiders is estimated at Rs 4,224. (These (malicious) attacks are attempts 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 study further revealed that on an average, it costs India Inc Rs 2,105 for each lost or stolen record, with the average total organisational cost of data breach, evaluated at Rs 5.35 crore. Costs incurred in notifying customers or victims worked out to around Rs 15.6 lakh on an average.
In addition to this, costs incurred by victims to detect and escalate, and redress the data breach averaged to Rs 1.64 crore and Rs 2.09 crore respectively.
“The value of data has never been greater than the present. This is especially so with the rapid adoption of technologies by organisations with a view to providing business information – anywhere, anytime,” said Symantec's Managing Director – Sales for India and SAARC region, Mr Anand Naik.
Economic impact
The targeted organisations lost Rs 1.46 crore on an average with customers deserting the victims after a breach. This also made the loyalty rebuilding exercise, quite expensive, states the Symantec report.
While highlighting the economic impact of data breaches, Mr Naik emphasised the importance of information protection policies and practices in organisations.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.