New HP research shows the cost and frequency of cybercrime are continuing to rise. According to a study of US companies, the occurrence of cyber attacks has more than doubled over a three-year period, while the financial impact has increased by nearly 40 per cent.

Conducted by the Ponemon Institute and sponsored by HP, the 2012 Cost of Cyber Crime Study found that the average annualised cost of cybercrime incurred by a benchmark sample of US organisations was $8.9 million. This represents a six per cent increase over the average cost reported in 2011, and a 38 per cent increase over 2010. The 2012 study also revealed a 42 per cent increase in the number of cyber attacks, with organisations experiencing an average of 102 successful attacks per week, compared to 72 attacks per week in 2011 and 50 attacks per week in 2010.

“Organisations are spending increasing amounts of time, money and energy responding to cyber attacks at levels that will soon become unsustainable,” says Michael Callahan, vice president, worldwide product and solution marketing, enterprise security products, HP. “There is clear evidence to show that the deployment of advanced security intelligence solutions helps to substantially reduce the cost, frequency and impact of these attacks.”

The most costly cybercrimes continue to be those caused by malicious code, denial of service, stolen or hijacked devices, and malevolent insiders. When combined, these account for more than 78 per cent of annual cybercrime costs per organisation.

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