Every day we see new stats, new data about cyber security and cyber hacking. Today, a new study was published by HP Enterprise Security and Ponemon Institute – for the sixth year in a row – about the cost of a data breach in the US. Up 20% from last year, the total annual impact of a data breach on a US organization is $15 million. A single attack? Just $1.9 million. I don’t know about you, but I can think of a lot better ways to spending that kind of money.
The report points out the growing attack surface thanks to the expanding Internet of Things…cloud, mobile, thermostats, etc. In a recent presentation by Gartner analyst John Girard, he spoke of hacks that originated through a lightbulb and gained access to all systems. The potential impact is the sort of stuff that can keep you from sleeping at night; I don’t want to think about what else someone who can hack a system through a lightbulb can do!
“The probability that you will experience a breach is steadily increasing, and so the return on investment for an appropriate security budget and leadership has continuously become more favorable,” said Tim Erlin, director of IT security and risk strategy for advanced threat protection firm Tripwire. “There’s no doubt that avoiding a breach altogether is the best way to reduce its cost. Investing in tools that prevent, detect and shorten time to resolution is not only intuitively right, it’s proven out by reports like this one.”
While we can’t protect your lightbulbs, we can help you keep your intentional file sharing under your control. And help you spend your money in better places than paying for damages. Just sayin’.
