And these were just the incidents that have been detected or made public. A report published in late October cites the average annual costs per company due to successful cyber attacks having increased this year to $20.8 million in financial services; $14.5 million in the technology sector; and $12.7 million in communications. Some notable victims include:
• Target: 110 million customers had contact and/or credit/debit card information stolen
• Yahoo! Mail: e-mail service for 273 million users was hacked into
• J.P. Morgan Chase: Contact information for 76 million households and 7 million small businesses was compromised and undetected for two months
That's only a partial list, and some of the breaches appear to have originated overseas, possibly from Russia and China.
Among the think tank's recommendations to combat the cyber epidemic:
- Encourage private companies to share information on cyber attacks and threats
- Enhance cooperation among U.S. and foreign companies and governments to improve global cyber security
- Ensure the development of a viable cyber insurance system and market