The cost to businesses of a single bug or virus attack
can be as much as £66,000, research has revealed.
The estimate, contained in a report from analyst firm
Datamonitor, comes as users face threats from the latest flaw in
Microsoft Internet Explorer and the "Mary" e-mail bug which tempts
users with porn.
Users are still waiting for a patch from Microsoft to
prevent Explorer from downloading damaging code from hacked
websites. This code, in turn, allows users’ desktops to be hacked
remotely.
Analysts at Datamonitor surveyed 55 companies around the world
of all sizes to find out how much such attacks can cost. Of the
companies questioned, only 18% had not suffered any form of
security breach.
Of those who had suffered, 72% said bugs or viruses were the
most costly. Excluding the firms who would not reveal the exact
financial loss, Datamonitor said 11% had lost more than £66,000
from a single incident, and 43% had lost more than £5,000.
Based on the overall findings, Datamonitor estimates the most
serious incidents can cost an average of £26,000 compared with an
average annual cost of breaches of £27,000 - meaning just a single
incident can cause widespread damage to businesses.
Datamonitor siad these figures correspond to those from a survey
carried out by PricewaterhouseCoopers, a professional services
firm, and the Department of Trade and Industry and the DTI in the
UK, which estimated the annual cost of security breaches to be
£30,000.
However, firms should not solely come to rely on security
systems to tackle the threats, advised Datamonitor.
For example, they should educate staff not to open suspicious
attachments, as infected ones can cause the most damage. In
addition, firms should take the patching of systems with the latest
security updates more seriously.
"Organisations that do not put enough resources into IT security
because they do not believe they are at risk are putting their
heads in the sand," said Ian Williams, analyst at Datamonitor and
report author.
"Even if hackers do not directly target you, that does not mean
that you will not suffer a security breach costing several thousand
dollars."