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U.S. Data Breach Costs Still Increasing, Ponemon Survey Reports: Page 2 of 2

The numbers are startling. Organizations responding quickly spent $268 per record; those that took their time spent an average of $174. Some companies completed their notifications within two weeks, Ponemon says, with a result of considerable over-reporting--70 percent, in one case.

The survey also showed that organizations with a security leader with enterprise responsibility tend to do a better job managing data breaches and lowering costs. Breaches at companies displaying CISO leadership spent $193 per record, versus $232 by those that did not.

Malicious or criminal attacks (automated agents, malicious insiders, social engineers, external hackers), which accounted for about a third of the breaches, were by far the costliest breach causes, an average $318 per record, up $103 (48 percent) over 2009 and $151 more than the cost of non-malicious breaches.

"We found that malicious breaches are more expensive because organizations have to expend more resources on detection and escalation," says Ponemon. "More effort is required up front to get to the bottom of the problem."

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