The Stats Don’t Lie – Cyber Risk on the Rise

On a daily basis, the Citrin Cooperman cybersecurity team sees firsthand how constantly increasing cyber risks impact our clients. Through our monthly newsletters and periodic webinars, we strive to keep our clients and contacts aware of these risks and the importance of taking action to prevent your company from becoming the next headline. Every year, two industry-renowned reports are issued which provide an update of statistics and costs associated with data breach and cyber incidents: The IBM Security Cost of Data Breach Report and the Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report. The 2021 versions of these reports not only confirm our experience, but further highlight rising risks and costs associated with data breach.

This month, we thought we’d highlight some of these sobering statistics from these reports.

• Global Average Cost per Breach: $4.24M (up from $3.86M in 2020)
• Average Cost per Record Compromised: $161 (up from $146 in 2020)
• Average Days to Detect a Breach: 212 (up from 207 in 2020)
• Average Days to Contain a Breach: 75 (up from 73 in 2020)
• Total Average Days to Detect and Contain a Breach: 287
  
  • Additional Days if due to Business Email Compromise: +30 days
  • Additional Days if due to Compromised Credentials: +54 days
• 43% of cyberattacks target small businesses
• 93% of breaches are the result of phishing attacks
• Average cost of a breach is 54.9% higher if a company is not prepared
  
  

For more sobering statistics and details, including industry-specific details, you can access the 2021 reports at the following links:

IBM Security Cost of Data Breach Report
Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report

For more information on how you can proactively protect your organization’s data and significantly reduce the chance of your business becoming the next victim of a cyber-criminal, contact Michael Camacho at mcamacho@citrincooperman.com or Kevin Ricci at kricci@citrincooperman.com.