Using Automated Security Protocols Reduce the Cost of Data Breaches, Report Say

Using Automated Security Protocols Reduce the Cost of Data Breaches, Report Say

Federal agencies face less costly data breaches because they often employ security automation and orchestration practices, according to a security expert.


IBM’s annual Cost of a Data Breach report, released July 29, found the public sector worldwide incurred average losses of $1.08 million per data breach—the lowest average cost compared to 17 other industries. The health care industry faced the steepest average loss per breach at $8.6 million, while the overall average was $3.86 million per incident. 


Researchers surveyed over 500 organizations between April 2019 and April 2020. They calculated costs using factors such as how much a company spent on detecting and managing the breach as well as losses associated with business disruption and lost customers post-breach. 


Wendi Whitmore, vice president of an IBM team working on incident response and threat intelligence, told Nextgov that the U.S. public sector cost is likely higher than average because the U.S. had the highest average cost of a data breach in regional comparisons. Still, she said, agencies at the federal level lead the way on one of the most important ways to reduce costs: automating and orchestrating security. 


“Anything working under U.S. Cyber Command, which is much of the military, is a fantastic example,” Whitmore said. She added the military has been a leader in developing security automation best practices. Whitmore is a former computer crime investigator with the Air Force Office of Special investigations. 


This year is the first time the study could observe how automated security practices affect the cost of data breaches, Whitmore said. Over the past 15 years IBM has been doing the study, these practices were too new and not widespread enough to ef ..

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