(21-May-10) The age of innocence, when companies could rely on only basic security to keep their systems safe, is sadly long gone. This presents a challenge for smaller organizations: How do they keep their computers and data secure without having to spend a lot of time and money?
With a threat landscape that is populated with well-funded, devious criminals who are no longer in the game for notoriety, but for profit, even small slips can result in the compromise of data. Running a properly managed security infrastructure can be an expensive proposition.
It is not, however, more expensive than the consequences of a data breach. The Ponemon Institute’s 2009 annual cost of a data breach study revealed that the cost per compromised record was, on average, $142 (U.S.) globally, and a whopping $204 per record in the United States. This included both the hard costs and the value of lost business and reputation.
