Data breaches have gotten 12% more costly over the past five years, and the average data breach now leads to $3.92 million in losses for the affected organization, a new report by IBM shows. While the costs for smaller firms tend be lower, companies with fewer than 500 people on the payroll are expected to lose more than $2.5 million per data breach, which can be catastrophic.
The report stresses that data breaches can result in long-term damage, since some of the costs are often incurred years after the breach. While 67% of costs materialize in the first year following a breach, 22% only enter the stage in the second year, and for the remaining 11% this happens even later.
Read more: Your business hit by a data breach? Expect a bill of $3.92 million
