Ride the Lightning

US Businesses Plan to Increase Security Spending, But One Third Currently Struggle to Fund Security

October 3, 2016

According to the 2016 Kaspersky report entitled The Financial Impact of IT Security on US Businesses, 75% of US businesses expect to increase their IT security spending over the next three years. That is hardly surprising, nor is the finding that over a third of businesses currently struggle to secure the spending required to implement information security controls and protect their organizations from evolving threats.

The survey harvested data from more than 4,000 business and found that cybersecurity is at the top of the list of business concerns.

On average, the total spent on information security solutions in the US accounts for less than 20% of the total IT budget, according to 73% of respondents to the survey. Moreover, the report highlights that one in ten businesses in the US spends less than $2,500 on total IT spending every year. Now that is a real problem.

The estimated average financial impact of a single data breach is between $86,500 for small and medium businesses and $861,000 for larger businesses. In surveys exclusively of larger businesses, the 2016 IBM Cost of Data Breach Survey (based on research by The Ponemon Institute) places the number at $4 million.

Having tried, sometimes successfully and sometimes unsuccessfully, to stress the need for more security spending at small to mid-sized large firms, it appears that are still many firms willing to bet that they will not be hit by a breach. Those who are hit come to rue their inaction, but by then, alas, it is too late.

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