Healthcare organizations hit hardest by breach costs

Healthcare organizations reported the highest costs associated with data breaches compared to other industries for the eighth consecutive year, according to a IBM Security survey.

The Ponemon Institute, an independent research firm IBM Security tapped to conduct the survey, found the average cost of a data breach globally amounts to $3.86 million, a 6.4 percent increase from the firm's 2017 report. For its 2018 report, the Ponemon Institute interviewed representatives from nearly 500 companies that experienced a recent data breach to assess various factors, including technical, legal and business costs.

"There are many hidden expenses which must be taken into account, such as reputational damage, customer turnover and operational costs [after a breach]," Wendi Whitmore, global lead for IBM X-Force Incident Response and Intelligence Services, said in IBM's July 11 statement.

On average, each lost or stolen record during a healthcare breach cost the organization $408, nearly three times higher than the cross-industry average of $148.

Here are the 10 industries in which data breaches prove to be the most expensive, ranked by the average per capita cost of exposed records:

1. Health: $408

2. Financial: $206

3. Services: $181

4. Pharmaceuticals: $174

5. Technology: $170

6. Energy: $167

7. Education: $166

8. Industrial: $152

9. Entertainment: $145

10. Consumer: $140

To access IBM Security's survey, click here.

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