Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL)’s 2014 Global Security Survey was published yesterday, and the report highlighted some startling statistics on cybercrime. The survey interviewed IT execs from almost 1500 companies (ranging from 500 employees to 10,000+ employees) all across the globe, including companies the U.S., Canada, Australia, Europe, India and China.
Epidemic of cybercrime
According to the Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) report, 87% of the organizations responding to the survey have suffered at least one security breach at some point. 73% experienced a breach in the last year, and over half of those incidents occurred in the last six months.
The companies in the survey lost an average of nearly one million dollars related to cybercrime in 2013. A number of companies reported multi-million dollar losses. U.S. companies lost an average of $1.45 million last year. Australian companies lost an average of more than AU$600,000.
Costs of IT security
Interestingly, respondent organizations that have never experienced an IT security breach are only budgeting an average of 12% of their IT budget to IT security, whereas organizations that have experienced a security breach are budgeting an average of 18% of their IT budget to security. Not too surprisingly, it seems that those that suffer a breach are more willing to spend to avoid a repeat of the problem than those who haven’t been victimized by cybercrime.
Future outlook
The survey also makes it clear costs for IT security are continuing to increase. “Security spending is set to increase for 68% of respondent organizations over the next year and 74% report that spending will increase over the next 2-3 years. Only a very small minority (3%) expect their spending on IT security to decrease. 91% of respondents whose organizations expect IT security to be their top priority next year indicate that their spending in this area will increase.”
