A RAND Corp. study has found that an average breach costs an organization an estimated $200,000, a figure that “represents less than 0.4 percent of their annual revenues,” The San Diego Union-Tribune reports. “Relative to all the other risks companies face, the cyber risks often aren’t as big a deal as we think,” said the study’s lead author Sasha Romanosky. Not everyone agrees with the findings. It’s tricky to put a price tag on “compromised data because there is only a real cost if someone uses the data to do something bad,” said San Diego State University’s Murray Jennex. “Much data is stolen without ever really being used.” The RAND study’s findings clash with the results of a recent Ponemon Institute and IBM report, which found that the average breach cost companies $4 million this year. Editor’s Note: IAPP Publications Director Sam Pfeifle covers students’ quest to develop a breach cost-estimating tool for The Privacy Advisor.
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