Cyber-losses are a big deal, says Telus/Rotman study

TORONTO - IT security breaches are costing publicly traded Canadian companies an average loss of more than $637,000 annually, says a new study released by Telus and the Rotman School of Management. In government, the cost is $320,000 per organization, while the cost to private companies is $294,000 a year. Similar studies in the U.S. show the cost of data security breaches more than doubling year over year, rising to an average of US$345,000 in 2007 from US$167,713 in 2006 for public companies. There is no similar benchmark data for Canada, but Rotman business economics professor Dr. Walid Hejazi says...