Four in five Australian companies suffered data breach in past five years

A new survey reveals almost 80% of local companies have experienced data breaches in the past five years, with 40% recording between six and 20 breaches.

The Symantec Australian data loss survey shows 59% of businesses suspect they have been the victim of data breaches, but are unable to identify stolen information.

A whopping 34% of respondents report an average breach cost them $5000, while 14% say breaches cost them between $100,000 and $999,999, and 7% over $1 million.

But the main cause of data breaches, the survey reports, was lost laptops at 45%, while human error accounted for 42% of cases. Malicious attacks were responsible for 28% of breaches, while hacking and malware were responsible for 24%.