Data Breach Costs Escalate in 2024

$4.26M!

That’s the average cost of a data breach in Australia in 2024, according to new research released by IBM.

The figure – a record high – represents a whopping 27% increase since 2020. However, while the average cost of a data breach continues to escalate, the types of cyber breaches experienced by Australian organisations continue to be the usual suspects.

Under Attack

IBM’s research found that Phishing continues to be the most common type of attack vector, with 22% of breaches starting this way.  Stolen or compromised credentials were the second most common, accounting for 17% of breaches. 

Malicious insiders were responsible for the most costly attacks, at 8% of incidents.

It took Australian companies on average 266 days to identify/contain cyber incidents.  This lengthy period contributed to high detection and escalation costs, which remain the most expensive aspect of a breach, with post-breach response and lost business the second most costly.

Almost a third of data breaches involved data stored across multiple environments: public cloud, private cloud, and on-premises systems. Breaches across multiple environments took 13% longer to identify and contain.

Organisations with too few cybersecurity staff paid the heaviest price, with an average cost per breach $2.7M higher than organisations with less exposure.

However, involving law enforcement saved some ransomware victims as much as $1.5M in costs.

Automated Defences Help

Companies which didn’t use security AI and automation experienced significantly higher breach costs ($5.21M) than those which did, and it also took them an additional 99 days to identify and contain breaches.

The research found that 65% of surveyed Australian organisations leveraged these technologies.

However, attackers too are exploiting new opportunities presented by AI.  For example, increasingly convincing deepfakes are enabling ever more effective social engineering attacks.

Avoiding Costly Cyber Breaches

To protect an organisation’s valuable data, it must be protected when it’s stored and while it’s “in motion”.  As the research found, automation can ensure this takes place with the entirety of an organisation’s data transfers.

Managed File Transfer (MFT) solutions such as the class-leading GoAnywhere MFT encrypt data at rest and in transit, complying with the highest data security standards (including the US’s and Europe’s HIPAA, HITECH, PCI DSS, SOX, and GDPR).

MFT manages inbound and outbound file transfers across an organisation, using industry-standard file transfer protocols such as SFTP, FTPS, and AS2 to send files securely, and encryption standards such as Open PGP and AES to protect data in transit and at rest.

Advanced Threat Protection and Adaptive Loss Prevention add a further layer of defence.

SFT Threat Protection enables safe collaboration with external parties, preventing malware from entering your organisation, and reducing opportunities for employees to lose or mishandle sensitive data.

Local Expertise Ready to Help

Generic Systems Australia are your local experts in Managed File Transfer and Advanced Threat Protection.  We’ve assisted hundreds of organisations across the Asia-Pacific region to secure their data and keep cybercriminals at bay.

If you’d like to discuss improving your cybersecurity, please feel welcome to contact me, Bradley Copson. I’m always happy to have an obligation-free discussion, explain how simply we can transition you from outdated software and approaches, and offer you a zero-cost Proof of Concept.