Larger companies face largest cyber hits: NetDiligence

Large companies face higher average costs in the event of a cyber incident, according to a study Wednesday from cyber risk and response firm NetDiligence.

The average cost of a breach at a small to medium-sized enterprise, defined for the purposes of this report as organizations with less than $2 billion in annual revenue, was $178,000, while the average cost of a breach at a large company, defined as organizations with $2 billion or more in annual revenue, was $5.6 million, according to the report.

The average cost of crisis services such as forensics, notification, legal guidance, for small to medium-sized enterprises, was $112,000, but for large companies jumped to $3.8 million, while the average legal/regulatory costs for small to medium-sized enterprises was $181,000, but for large companies $2.2 million, the report said.

Among small to medium-sized enterprises, the retail sector saw the highest average expense at $240,000, while among large companies the financial services sector’s $10.7 million average cost was more than double retail’s $4.2 million, the report said.

The leading cause of a cyber incident measured by cost at both small to medium-sized enterprises and large companies was a hacker, with malware/virus a close second among large companies.

For the ninth edition of the study, 2,081 were claims analyzed, arising from events that occurred from 2014 through 2018, with 649 claims analyzed arising from events occurring in 2018 and almost 1,100 new claims collected in 2018, from events occurring from 2016 through 2018, the report said.

“We collected 1,100 new claims this year, more than double the number submitted last year,” Mark Greisiger, president of NetDiligence, said in a statement issued with the report.

The vast majority, 96% of claims totaling $357 million, came from small to medium enterprises, those with less than $2 billion in annual revenue, while just 4% of claims totaling $433 million came from large companies, those with more than $2 billion in annual revenue, the report said.