Middle East data breaches cost $6m each, says new report
Technology giant Lenovo currently offers a recycling option for old equipment, with data protection at the very heart of the operation
The Middle East ranks as the world’s second-highest cost of data breaches, at $6 million for each one, according to a recent report by the Ponemon Institute.
The report revealed that organisations in the region face a wide range of data breach issues – including the world’s highest average number of breached records, at 38,000 per incident, and an average data breach costing $5.97m, both figures about 50 percent higher than the global average
At $5.97m, the Middle East’s average data breach cost was topped only by the United States with $8.19m. The region also landed the world’s longest length in the data breach lifecycle, with a mean average of 381 days.
“The Middle East having among the world’s highest average costs, records, and lifecycle for data breaches shows an urgent need for organisations to adopt an holistic data protection platform and strategy to maintain their business operations and reputation,” said Savitha Bhaskar, COO Condo Protego, a leading UAE-based IT infrastructure and information management consultancy and solutions provider.
Technology giant Lenovo currently offers a recycling option for old equipment, with data protection at the very heart of the operation.
Richard Wilcox, regional director – Middle East data centre group, Middle East, Turkey and Africa, told Arabian Business that a partnership with EnviroServe, a UAE-based company which recycles unwanted office equipment, sees data completely shredded down.
He said: “There are some horror stories globally that we’ve heard, PCs ending up in different parts of the world with customers’ data on. We’ve heard of data centres being put into landfill. We cannot be involved in anything like that, we have to be involved in ticking that CSR box.
“Data is to be destroyed at NIST and USA Department of Defense standards. However we destroy at 6mm which is above this standard and we can do 60,000 hard drives per hour.”
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