Cost of Data Breach Hits $1.4M, Security Budgets Near $19M

The cost of enterprise data breaches has increased to $1.41 million, up from $1.23 million the previous year, Kaspersky Lab researchers report. Cybersecurity budgets have more than doubled as a result, averaging $18.9 million this year compared with $8.9 million in 2018.

Data breaches are becoming "significantly" more expensive for enterprises; however, those with an internal security operations center (SOC) suffer less financial damage. This year, businesses with an internal SOC estimated their post-breach costs amounted to $675,000, less than half the average breach impact in 2018. What's more, 34% of companies across all sizes that employ a data protection officer (DPO) report cyber incidents didn't lead to monetary loss.

Businesses that outsourced their SOC did not reduce the cost of a breach. Researchers found outsourcing security to a managed service provider could increase the financial damage: 23% of companies that use an MSP reported a financial impact of $100,000 to $249,000. Only 19% of organizations with their own internal IT team reported the same level of expense post-breach.

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