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Experian’s 7th Annual Data Breach Preparedness Study

Published: February 24, 2020 by Guest Contributor

Experian’s 7th Annual Data Breach Preparedness Study is available now, and its findings show organizations struggling in a few areas that are sure to see data breach activity increase this year.

New to report this year: we surveyed IT and IT security, compliance, and privacy professionals inboththe U.S. and the EMEA to compare the regional differences amongst organizations and their outlook around data breach preparedness.

A few themes that stuck out in the study this year were:

Spear Phishing and Ransomware

  • 69% of respondents had one or more spear phishing attacks in 2019
    • Since 2017, respondents who say their organizations are very confident or confident in their ability to deal with spear phishing attacks has declined from 31% to 23%
  • 36% of respondents say their organizations had a ransomware attack last year with only 20% feeling confident in their ability to deal with it
    • The average ransom was $6,128, and 68% of respondents say the ransom was paid

Confidence in Data Breach Response Plans

  • From a reputation standpoint, only 23% of respondents say their organization is confident in its ability to minimize the financial and reputational consequences of a material data breach
  • Only 38% of respondents believe they are effective at doing what needs to be done following a data breach to prevent the loss of customers’ and business partners’ trust and confidence

Global Data Breaches

  • Only 34% of respondents say they are confident their organizations are able to respond to global breaches, as breaches increasingly become international in scope

Read the full results of Experian’s 7th Annual Data Breach Preparedness Study and see how you compare to other organizations when it comes to data breach preparedness.

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