Security News > 2023 > May > Data loss costs are going up – and not just for those who choose to pay thieves

Data loss - particularly from ransomware attacks - has always been a costly proposition for enterprises.

In its 2023 Data Security Incident Response Report [PDF], Cleveland-based law firm BakerHostetler - which three years ago launched a practice around data, equal to other practices like tax, IP, and litigation - found while the number of ransomware incidents the firm responded to dipped in early 2022, it came roaring back toward the end of the year and into early 2023.

Both the UK's National Cyber Security Centre and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation have said publicly that they don't support paying ransoms, which many believe only encourage criminals to take more data hostage, in addition to the fact that there's no way of knowing that miscreants will delete the data, or that they won't simply sell it again despite the ransom being paid.

"In 2022, we saw increases in average ransom demands, average ransom payments, and average recovery times in most industries."

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Victims aren't only paying more if they decide to pay the ransom, but the overall cost of forensic investigations of data breaches also jumped.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2023/05/02/data_breach_costs_rise/