Almost one-third of U.S. businesses (29 percent) experienced a data breach in the previous year, a survey for The Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company (HSB), part of Munich Re, reported today, and eight in ten spent at least $5,000 to respond. The HSB survey conducted by Zogby Analytics also found that almost half of the breaches (47 percent) were caused by a vendor or contractor working for a business, followed by employee negligence (21 percent) and lost or stolen mobile devices or storage media (20 percent).
“The results highlight how closely our economy and society are interconnected digitally,” said Timothy Zeilman, vice president for HSB, a leading provider of cyber insurance for businesses and consumers. “Almost all of our personal and business data can be accessible on the Internet through online business connections, websites and social media. And that exposes our private information to attacks from hackers and cyber thieves.”
In two-thirds of the data breaches, the businesses reported their reputation was negatively affected. When asked what the biggest hurdle would be for their organization to respond to a data breach, 51 percent said lack of knowledge and 41 percent a lack of resources.
The financial impact of a data breach was considerable: 27 percent of the businesses spent between $5,000 and $50,000 to respond and 30 percent spent between $50,000 and $100,000.