The Cost Of Data Center Outage Rose in 2016

The average cost of a data center outage rose to $740,357 in 2016, which represents an increase of 38% since 2010. “But there are also indirect costs; financial penalties related to non-compliance, loss of trust, lost productivity and even job loss”. Who says that?

The number come from a benchmark research on the global trends and costs of data breaches, sponsored by IBM conducted by Ponemon Institute in June 2016. 383 companies in 12 countries participated to the research. It reveals that the the average total cost of data breach if $4 million, which represents 29% increase in total cost of data breach since 2013. The average cost per lost or stolen record is $158.

83 companies located in the following countries participated to the “2016 Cost of Data Breach Study: Global Analysis”: United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, France, Brazil, Japan, Italy, India, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Canada and, for the first time, South Africa. All parties that participated to the survey said they experienced a data breach ranging from approximately 3,000 to slightly more than 101,500 compromised records.

The highest losses from data breaches are in the United States and Germany, while the lowest are Brazil and India. The average cost of data breach (per capita) is $221 in the U.S. and $213 in Germany. In Brazil the losses are equivalent of $100, while in India it is $61. The average total organizational cost in the U.S. was $7.01 million and in Germany $5.01 million.

Data Breach Cost Varies By Industry

The average global cost of data breach per lost or stolen record is $158. It is higher for healthcare organizations. They had an average cost of $355. In Education the average cost is $246, in Transportation $129, in Research $112, while in Public Sector it is $80.

Most Data Breaches Caused By Hackers & Insiders

48% percent of all breaches in this year’s study were caused by malicious or criminal attacks. The average cost per record to resolve such an attack is $170. In contrast, system glitches cost $138 per record and human error or negligence was $133 per record. Companies in the US and Canada spent $236 and respectively $230 per record to resolve a malicious or criminal attack. India spent $76 per record.

Significant Differences In Malicious & Criminal Activity by Country

60% of all breaches in the Arabian countries and 54% of all breaches in Canada were due to hackers and criminal insiders. 37% of all data breaches occurring in South Africa were due to malicious attacks. However, South African companies have 37% of human error data breaches. 35% of Indian firms and organization were most likely to experience any data breach caused by a system glitch or business process failure.

To find our more, read “2016 Cost of Data Breach Study: Global Analysis“, released by IBM and conducted by Ponemon Institute.

About the Author

Dimitar A.
Dimitar is founder of the global Cloud & Infrastructure Hosting provider HostColor.com & European Cloud IaaS company RAX. He has two Decades-long experience in the web hosting industry and in building and managing Cloud computing infrastructure and IT ecosystems. Dimitar is also political scientist who has published books "The New American State" and "The New Polity". "The New American State" is one of the best current political books. It is focused on the change of the American political process. It offers a perspective on how the fourth industrial revolution, also called the Digital Revolution and Industry 4.0, marks the beginning of an era of deterritorialization.