For the second year in a row, Brazil took the title as the country with the lowest cost per violation, at $1.36 million (although up 11.5%, from $1.22 million in 2023).
The damage varies with the type of attack and the lack of skills
The nature of the attack contributed to the financial loss, the report said. Malicious attacks, where bad actors remove data and destroy systems, cost the most: $5.68 million per breach ($5.23 million in 2023). Data extortion, where data is stolen, and ransomware, where data is encrypted and a ransom is demanded, came in second and third, at $5.21 million and $4.91 million respectively.
However, noted Fritz Jean-Louis, chief cybersecurity consultant at Info-Tech Research Group, sometimes attackers combine their tactics. “Double ransomware attacks are a key factor influencing the cost of a data breach,” he said in an email. “As of 2023, we have seen that ransomware attacks now include two-pronged attacks. In this type of attack, data is extracted before it is encrypted. By doing this, cybercriminals are able to hold the organization with the stolen data and expect payment by providing the decryption key. This is often leading to higher payouts requested by cybercriminals and resulting in higher recovery fees and longer-term business disruption.”
Source link