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EM’s research shows cost and frequency of cybercrime increase for third consecutive year.
HP revealed that its third annual study of U.S. companies indicated a 40 percent increase in the financial impact of cyber crime, with crime more than doubling over a three-year period.
The 2012 Cost of Cyber Crime Study, conducted by the Ponemon Institute and sponsored by HP, found that on average, the annual cost of cybercrime was $8.9 million (€6.8 million) – an increase of six percent on that of 2011 and 38 percent more than was found in 2010. The number of cyberattacks also increased by 42 percent, with organisations suffering an average of 102 attacks per week compared to 72 in 2011 and 50 in 2010.
According to HP, the most costly cybercrimes are those caused by malicious code, denial of service, stolen or hijacked devices and malevolent insiders; which together make 78 percent of annual cybercrime costs per organisation.
Information theft and business disruption have continued to represent the highest external costs, with the former accounting for 44 percent of total external costs and the latter accounting for 30 percent – a one percent increase on 2011. In terms of internal costs associated with cybercrime, recovery and detection remain the most costly.
To combat the costs of cybercrime, organisations are encouraged to adopt advanced security intelligence solutions, with those with such solutions in placing being found to save almost $1.6 million (€1.2 million). The time it takes to resolve cyberattacks is also stated as being an important factor in the cost of recovery, with the average time to resolve a cyberattack found to be 24 days, during which the average cost incurred was $591,780 (€457,386) – a 42 percent increase on last year’s estimated average cost of $415,748 (€321,331) during an 18-day average resolution period.
Michael Callahan, Vice-President of Worldwide Product and Solution Marketing for Enterprise Security Products at HP, commented: “Organizations are spending increasing amounts of time, money and energy responding to cyberattacks at levels that will soon become unsustainable. There is clear evidence to show that the deployment of advanced security intelligence solutions helps to substantially reduce the cost, frequency and impact of these attacks.”
Dr. Larry Ponemon, Chairman and Founder of the Ponemon Institute, said: “The purpose of this benchmark research is to quantify the economic impact of cyberattacks and observe cost trends over time. We believe a better understanding of the cost of cybercrime will assist organizations in determining the appropriate amount of investment and resources needed to prevent or mitigate the devastating consequences of an attack.”
The Recycler reported recently on HP’s investment in the computer security market in India, with the sector expected to grow 21 percent by the end of 2012.