Remote work has increased by 44 percent in the past five years, which has resulted in a significant increase in the number of data breaches companies are experiencing, but how has the cost of a data breach been affected by remote working? For those in the U.S., the situation is the most problematic compared with other nations.
Data breaches are often targeted, with the intent of securing data. The types of breaches vary considerably, and include:
- Access by an unauthorised third party.
- Deliberate or accidental action (or inaction) by a controller or processor.
- Sending personal data to an incorrect recipient.
- Computing devices containing personal data being lost or stolen.
- Alteration of personal data without permission.
The experts at Proxyrack have looked into the countries and industries losing the most money to data breaches, the areas most commonly targeted by data breaches as well as the effect remote working has had on the cost of data breaches. The data has been shared with digital Journal.
The Effects of Remote Working on the Cost of a Data Breach
The key data reveals:
| Rank | Percentage of Remote Employees | Average Data Breach Cost 2021 |
| 1 | 81% – 100% | $5,540,000 |
| 2 | 61% – 80% | $4,390,000 |
| 3 | 10% – 20% | $4,210,000 |
| 4 | 21% – 40% | $4,020,000 |
| 5 | Less than 10% | $3,650,000 |
| 6 | 41% – 60% | $3,150,000 |
The table indicates that data breaches to companies with the highest percentage of remote employees (81-100 percent) were the costliest in 2021, averaging over $5 million.
The trends also find that the average cost of a data breach in the healthcare industry is $9.23 million, which is the highest of any of the industries profiled. The financial industry has the second highest average data breach cost at $5.27 million.
In terms of geographical reach, the trends find that the U.S. is the most commonly targeted country in the world by data breaches with 7,221,177 breaches per million people. France followed in second, with 6,488,574 breaches per million people.
Another finding for North America that raises eyebrows is that the U.S. has the highest data breach cost in the world, with an average cost of $9,050,000, nearly $5,000,000 higher than the global average of $4,240,000. In total, the US has had over 2.4 billion data breaches, with 30 million happening in 2022 and 452 million occurring in the last three years.
