ponemon

Why 'data breach' isn't a dirty word anymore

Three years ago one of the largest payment processors in the country reported that hackers had accessed its computer system, exposing millions of credit card numbers in what is believed to be the largest hacking-related security breach ever.

Heartland Payment Systems' CEO said at the time that the breach had occurred in 2008, but had only been discovered in January 2009. According to the DataLossDB site, the Heartland breach involved 130 million credit and debit card numbers. The company was sued by shareholders, but the suit was dismissed. Meanwhile, after pleading guilty to that hack as well as a slew … Read more

Verizon: Hacktivists stole 100 million+ records in 2011

Financially motivated criminals were behind most of last year's data breaches, but hacktivists stole almost twice as many records from organizations and government agencies, according to the Data Breach Investigations Report being released by Verizon today.

While more than 80 percent of the data breaches in 2011 were due to organized criminal activity, the number of records pilfered from activist groups represented 58 percent of the total, the report finds.

In particular, hacktivists targeted corporations and big agencies, and consumer data. Activist groups accounted for more than 22 percent of the data breaches targeting large organizations. Meanwhile, 95 percent … Read more

Americans more susceptible to online scams than believed, study finds

Last May, long before the iPhone 4S was released, a bunch of Facebook users got tricked into spreading spam by clicking on a link attached to this headline: "First Exposure: Apple iPhone 5."

People who normally ignore all the other scams involving purported free software or naked celebrity photos clicked that fake news link and even completed a captcha on a second site, which reposted the scam to their own Facebook stream. That probably says more about how fanatical people are about Apple products than anything else. But it did raise the question--what does it take to lure … Read more

Study: Cybercrime costs on the rise from last year

A new annual study on the cost of cybercrime conducted by the Ponemon Institute has found that the expense of dealing with cybercrime is on the rise from last year.

The study, which was funded by Hewlett-Packard, found that the median cost of cybercrime to the 50 organizations it surveyed was $5.9 million per year, based on a range of $1.5 million to $36.5 million per year. That's up 56 percent from the $3.8 million median found in last year's study, which ranged from $1 million to $53 million per year.

That large median … Read more

Study: Negligence cause of most data breaches

Negligence is the biggest cause of data breaches at corporations, but criminal attacks are growing fastest, a study released today concludes.

The average cost of a data breach for a victimized organization increased to $7.2 million, and the average cost per record came to $214, up $10 from the previous year, according to the 2010 Annual Study: U.S. Cost of a Data Breach, which was conducted by the Ponemon Institute and based on data supplied by 51 U.S. companies across 15 different industry sectors.

The costs associated with a breach involve detecting the incident, investigation, forensics, customer … Read more

Study: Medical identity theft is costly for victims

When your wallet is lost or stolen, the first thing you probably do is call your credit card companies. You should also notify your medical insurance provider judging from the conclusions of a report to be released on Wednesday that finds that medical identity fraud can be very costly.

With identity fraud, most people think of criminals stealing Social Security numbers and credit card data to take out loans or make purchases that the victim is responsible for. But there is a growing amount of medical-related identity theft in which someone uses another person's identity or insurance information to … Read more

Survey: Data breaches from malicious attacks doubled last year

Data breaches at U.S. companies attributed to malicious attacks and botnets doubled from 2008 to 2009 and cost substantially more than breaches caused by human negligence or system glitches, according to a new Ponemon survey to be released on Monday.

The incidence of malicious attacks rose from 12 percent in 2008 to 24 percent last year, according to the 2009 Annual Study: U.S. Cost of a Data Breach survey conducted by the Ponemon Institute and sponsored by PGP Corp.

The cost per compromised record involving a criminal act averaged $215, about 40 percent higher than breaches from negligence … Read more

Survey: Half of businesses don't secure personal data

The personal information you give to businesses may not be as secure as you hope, according to a new survey.

Around 55 percent of all businesses acknowledge that they secure credit card information but not Social Security numbers, bank account details, and other personal data, according to a survey of more than 500 companies released Wednesday by Imperva and Ponemon Institute.

The survey was conducted to determine how many companies are complying with PCI DSS, the Payment Card Industry's Data Security Standard. PCI DSS tries to ensure that businesses take specific measures to secure their Web sites, databases, and … Read more

Study: eBay, Yahoo among most trusted companies

eBay is the most trusted company in terms of privacy, and Yahoo and Facebook are among the Top 10, according to a new report released on Wednesday.

Following eBay is Verizon, the U.S. Postal Service, WebMD, IBM, Procter & Gamble, Nationwide and Intuit, with Yahoo and Facebook in the ninth and tenth spots, the study from the Ponemon Institute and Truste says.

It was Facebook's debut on the list, as well as the first time a telecommunications company and a government operation cracked the top three.

While the list ranks the most trusted companies based on consumer brand … Read more