Why is the Cost of a Data Breach Declining?

According to the 2013 Cost of Data Breach Study from Symantec and the Ponemon Institute, the cost of a data breach in the United States declined to $188. This is the second year in a row that Ponemon saw a drop. In the 2012 study, it reported the cost of a data breach was $194 per record, which was a decline from the $214 per record reported in 2011.

Larry Ponemon, author of the report and head of the Ponemon Institute, explained to eSecurity Planet that it’s important to understand the components of what drives up data breach costs. One such component is cost of customer churn, which Ponemon found decreased 13 percent in the latest study. However, the decline in customer churn might be attributed in part to an increase in data breaches.

“As individuals get more notifications, they get used to them,” Ponemon said. “So after awhile, you are just immune to the notification, because you haven’t really suffered.”

So after receiving a first data breach notice, a customer might worry he or she will become an identity theft victim. By the third notification, however, customers are likely to simply not worry as much.

Read the full story at eSecurity Planet:
Data Breach Cost Declines for 2nd Year

Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at InternetNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TechJournalist.