ID Defenders - Corporate

The rising problem of online phishing and Trojan horse viruses in addition to just dishonest employees that might have access to hard copy files, makes it important for anyone housing proprietary and personal information to look at purchasing a commercial identity theft program for their company or organization. This will not only act as a good will gesture but mitigate liability as well.

Forrester Research Firm did a study entitled “Calculating the Cost of a Security Breach.”ⁱ In this study the following data were reported:

Of 83 corporate IT managers, 28 acknowledged having to cope with a data breach
The costs of a data breach vary widely from $90 to $305 per customer record, depending on whether the breach is “low-profile” or “high-profile” and the company is in a non-regulated or highly regulated area, such as banking.
In counting up costs, Forrester estimated the cost at $50 for the discovery, notification and response that brings in unexpected expenses associated with legal counsel, call centers and mail notification. It also noted a lost employee productivity that would range from $20 to $30 per customer record.

It is proven that the negative effects of identity theft or a breach of information to a business can have long-term and far-reaching ramifications. It should be a priority for business owners and executives to heighten their awareness of identity theft, and the financial and image costs of a data loss. It is apparent that the misuse or loss of information is a concern for over 80% of the consumer base. The focus of the consumer is both on their own security as well as the actions and activities of the businesses that they use.