The concept of the data breach is hardly a new one in the world of business, but it does seem to be going through something of a renaissance over the last several years. With an alarming frequency, it is now common to read about yet another massive “hack” or “breach” that has negatively affected some of the largest corporations on the planet. At the end of 2014, the hack that affected Sony Pictures cost the company an estimated $100+ million dollars. Even as recently as August 2015, the hack that struck Ashley Madison.com has seemingly destroyed an entire brand for all time. There are also literal costs associated with a data breach. Is your company prepared to weather this type of storm?
The Cost of a Data Breach
IBM recently conducted a study examining the financial consequences of the types of data breaches that are happening more and more often in today’s modern environment. Over just 10 months, representatives from Ponemon Institute (sponsored by IBM) conducted research and interviews with over 350 organisations all over the world. The results were alarming.
According to the study, the average cost of a typical data breach in 2015 was $3.8 million dollars. Not only is this a huge figure, it actually is a 23% jump over the same average cost of similar types of data breaches in 2013. Unfortunately, for businesses all over the world, this is not a trend that seems to be reversing anytime soon.
The financial costs of a data breach can be broken down into a number of categories. Not only are data breaches expensive to fix from an infrastructure level, but the types of fines, fees, penalties and other monetary factors (like potential class action lawsuits) are immeasurable. A large corporation like Sony may be able to handle these types of costs, but can your small business say the same? Would a sudden and unexpected $3.8 million dollar cost be something that your business can even think about recovering from, or would it be all over?
These are just a few of the reasons why secure document destruction and high quality paper shredding methods are so important. They not only help generate the peace of mind that comes with knowing you’re protecting yourself and your company from harm, but they also avoid the types of costly fines and penalties associated with a data breach in the first place. It’s easy to “write off” something like secure document destruction as unnecessary – until, that is, you’ve run into a problem. At that point, you’ll wish you could go back in time and do everything in your power to avoid finding yourself in that situation. It’s for these reasons it is imperative to know why you should shred sensitive documents.
Instead of looking back and saying, “What should I have done?” you need to look forward and say, “What should I be doing now?” For all of your secure document destruction needs in the Melbourne area, Shred on Site is here to help.
