Lack of direction when it comes to regulatory compliance of the protection of data can be consequential and wide-ranging. For business, it can be downright detrimental. According to IBM’s Annual Cost of a Data Breach Report for 2022 released over the summer, it also continues to be quite costly. This is especially true when it comes to delaying regulatory compliance management for data protection and cybersecurity. Every experienced attorney practicing in the area of data privacy and cybersecurity law knows that discussions with corporate decision makers about compliance directly cross at some point with estimates of data breach costs post-cyber event and calculated costs associated with fortifying against any such event in the first place. It is a double-edged sword that can favor positive effects over negative ones if done right. Much like an iceberg floating above the surface, though, putting off a company’s cyber assessment of its compliance obligations will likely foretell some rough spots ahead that are characteristically unpredictable in both depth and scope.

Breach Cost Analysis

The 2022 report from IBM, in conjunction with Ponemon Institute, makes some noteworthy conclusions. The global average total cost of a data breach went up (again) and hit the highest level in the history of the report at $4.35 million. For a frame of reference of how costs are evolving, this figure represents about a 2.5% increase from the year before and falls just short of a 13% increase in the last two years. As a comparison, and minus this year, average U.S. inflation rates depending on the calculation and time frame, as well as who is doing the calculation, tend to fall out over time somewhere in the two to three percent range.

This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.

To view this content, please continue to their sites.

Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Why am I seeing this?

LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.

For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]