The average annual cost of cyber crime for an Australian organisation has increased by 13 per cent to $4.9 million, according to HP’s sixth annual global study on cybercrime.
Conducted by the Ponemon Institute and sponsored by HP Enterprise Security, the 2015 Cost of Cyber Crime Study quantified the annual cost of cybercrime for companies across seven countries including Australia, the US, the UK, Japan, Germany, Brazil and the Russian Federation.
The Australian results also revealed the time it takes to resolve a cyber attack has increased to 31 days, with the average cost incurred during that period being $419, 542 – representing a 47 per cent increase from last year’s estimated cost.
“As organisations increasingly invest in new technologies like mobile, cloud, and the Internet of Things, the attack surface for more sophisticated adversaries continues to expand,” said Shane Bellos, general manager, enterprise security products, HP Software, HP South Pacific. “To address this challenging dynamic, we must first understand the threats that pose the most risk and then prioritise the security strategies that can make a difference in minimising the impact.”
According to HP, as organisations embrace new technologies while protecting expanded environments, there is a need to shift security strategies from traditional network control and perimeter management to an advanced focus on protecting interactions among users, applications and data. The study found that Australian organisations are now committing 20 per cent of their security budget allocation to the application layer, up from 16 per cent last year.
The most costly cybercrimes in Australia continue to be those caused by denial of services, malicious insiders and malicious code – together accounting for more than 45 per cent of all cyber crime costs per organisation annually.
Organisations investing in and using security intelligence technologies and governance practices to address the crimes that proved most costly were more efficient in detecting and containing cyber attacks, thereby reducing costs otherwise incurred.
For example, Australian companies with encryptions technologies experienced average cost savings of $1.6 million, while those with security intelligence systems, experienced average cost savings of $1.5 million. In addition, companies with expert security personnel saved an average of $1 million.
“With cyber attacks growing in both frequency and severity, understanding of the financial impact can help organisations determine the appropriate amount of investment and resources needed to prevent or mitigate the consequences of an attack,” said Dr Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder, Ponemon Institute. “As seen in this year’s study, the return on investment for organisations deploying security intelligence systems, such as SIEM, realised an average annual cost savings of nearly $4 million – showcasing the ability to minimise impact by more efficiently detecting and containing cyber attacks.”
