In 2007, over 127 million individuals in the U.S. had their Personally Identifiable Information (PII) lost, stolen or compromised.
According to a Ponemon Institutes Study in 2007, the average cost of a data breach to a business was $197 per record lost.
Consumer awareness of identity theft and the security of personal information will only become more important in the future. With data breaches continuing to make daily headlines, publicity of large-scale breaches has caused an outrage among consumer advocacy groups, as well as adversely affected organizations such as banks and issuers. Some incidents have led breached institutions to be stricken with devastating class-action lawsuits.
Since 2005, there have been over 925 information security breaches, including:
- ChoicePoint
- Bank of America
- LexisNexis
- Card Systems
- Boston Globe
- Veterans Administration
- DSW
- TJX
(Source: Hunton & Williams, 2008)
Damage to the reputation of the breached institution may be even more difficult to prevent than any financial losses because it is heavily dependent upon the company’s image, brand, and its relationships with customers. While data breaches can cost tens of millions of dollars to repair because of fines, security upgrades, and notification efforts, reputation is one asset that may not be guaranteed as fully restorable.
This Data Breach Incident Response Workbook is designed to address all these issues and will provide an outline and recommendations for planning a well-orchestrated response to a data compromise.
