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When the word “cost” is used within business, it’s only normal to think of financial implications. But when it comes to data breaches, it’s not just the money aspect that’s costly.
In this article, we’ll discuss the true cost of a data breach, from the average cost to how they’re caused and can be prevented.
What is the cost of a data breach?
Costs can have many different meanings, but when it comes to a business during a data breach, there are 3 main costs that are affected.
Financial loss
Physical costs, like money, is where it can hit businesses immediately. Before you know if any data has been syphoned off and stolen, you need to detect the breach, respond to the breach, resolve it, and investigate. All of these steps take time, resources, and money to do, and that’s not including the time and money you have to spend to notify clients and customers of the breach, and potentially causing operational disruptions to resolve the issue.
Reputational loss
One cost that some people might forget about is their reputation. Reputation that businesses have built and relied on for years can come crumbling down in a matter of days or weeks, depending on the scale of a data breach and how businesses react to it.
Client loss
Paired with reputational loss, this can leave you with clients leaving your business. Clients that you worked so hard to get, who put their trust in your services, can end up being let down and leave, resulting in big financial holes in terms of your revenue.
When it comes to money, it’s possible to recoup the losses, but when it comes to reputational damages and the loss of clients, building the relationships and a brand back up to the image it once was can be near impossible.
What is the average cost of a data breach?
In a 2025 report by IBM, it was found that globally, the average data breach can cost a business around £3.3 million ($4.4m in USD). It is important to note that financial costs can depend on location, business size, and data sensitivity.
What causes a data breach?
As we are in the biggest digital age in our lifetime, it is no surprise that there are a huge number of ways a business can suffer a data breach.
If you have a business that holds data, some of the most common risks are:
Malware
Malware is malicious software that’s designed to damage or gain access to computer systems, to eventually steal data, personal information, or sell this information for financial gain.
Phishing
Phishing is a common tactic from a hacker, who will try to trick a colleague into clicking dangerous links, or to give up valuable information like login information to gain access to personal or private data.
Human error and social engineering
Human error is one of the leading causes of data breaches. This isn’t forgetting your password or calling the wrong number; this comes down to the handling of data and where it should be stored in line with GDPR.
And similar to phishing, social engineering is also used by hackers to slowly gain trust and get important information out of a person through manipulation.
How to prevent data breaches
Preventing data breaches is very multi-layered. This contains technology, policies, best practices, knowledge, and team training.
Cybersecurity is a very complex field, and you need a team that knows how to protect businesses from cybersecurity threats and information security, but you also need to train your team and wider areas of the business on the basics of cybersecurity and how to keep your information and data safe.
You can learn some vital information from our guides:
And, what is baiting?
How to reduce data breach costs
Reducing data breach costs is mainly focused on the overall prevention of cyber attacks. If you’re a business that doesn’t have a dedicated IT and cyber team like BigTek, you will need to make sure your technical team practices:
- Regular penetration tests
- Vulnerability scanning
- Keeping systems updated
- Team training
- Threat detection
- Regular password changes
- Incident response plans
BigTek, the IT partner you can rely on
At BigTek, we go beyond tools and technology, delivering cyber security solutions that make a real impact. Our experts help you protect your organisation from modern threats like baiting attacks through proactive monitoring, tailored strategies, and hands-on support.
With our Managed Cyber Security Services, Information Security Consultancy, Email Security Solutions, and IT Support, we provide complete protection against risks such as baiting in cyber security.
We help you identify vulnerabilities, strengthen your security policies, and train your team to spot and avoid baiting cyber security threats before they cause damage.
Get in touch today to find out more.