Implementing cybersecurity controls can be expensive and frustrating for companies, but dealing with the fallout from a breach is inevitably far more costly. And nowhere is that more evident than in U.S. corporations, which hold the distinction of having the highest data breach financial liabilities worldwide, according to the 2017 Cost of Data Breach Study.
The study was sponsored by IBM and conducted by the Ponemon Institute, which surveyed 419 corporations across 17 industries in 14 countries, including 63 corporations in the United States. On a per capita basis, U.S. corporations paid $225 per each lost or stolen record, up from the previous record of $221 in 2016, and far outpacing Canada, which held the second highest cost at $190 per record.
