Frankly, it’s costing U.S. businesses more than other nations’ enterprises worldwide, according to data collected in the 2014 Cost of Cyber Crime Study: United States from the Ponemon Institute and HP Enterprise Security. The mean cost of cyber crime for a company in the U.S. last year was $12.7 million per year; other countries’ enterprises mean costs ranged from Germany’s $8.13 million to Russia’s mere $3.33 million. The study observes a $1.1 million (or 9.3 percent) increase in cyber crime costs for the U.S. from last year’s report.
Small enterprises also have plenty to worry about. The study found that the cyber crime cost per capita in a smaller enterprise was significantly higher than in a larger organization ($1,513 vs. $517). If not resolved quickly, costs rack up as well. The average time to resolve a cyber attack was 45 days in 2014, with an average costs to participating organizations of more than $1.5 million during that period – a 33 percent increase from 2013, based on a 32-day resolution period. Malicious insider threats are even worse – taking 65 days on average to contain, the report notes.