Business data breaches becoming more problematic

As the trucking industry becomes more “digitized,” just like most of the American business community, worries regarding hacking and other “data attacks” are growing – and for good reason, as businesses are suffering more data breaches than many might think.

A new survey compiled for The Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company (HSB), which is part of global insurance firm Munich Re, discerned that almost one-third of U.S. businesses (29%) experienced a data breach within the previous year, with eight in 10 spending at least $5,000 to respond to it.

The HSB survey, conducted by Zogby Analytics, also found that almost half of the breaches (47%) were caused by a vendor or contractor working for a business, followed by employee negligence (21%) and lost or stolen mobile devices or storage media (20%).

“The results highlight how closely our economy and society are interconnected digitally,” said Timothy Zeilman, vice president for HSB, in a statement.

“Almost all of our personal and business data can be accessible on the Internet through online business connections, websites and social media,” he added. “And that exposes our private information to attacks from hackers and cyber thieves.”

In two-thirds of the cases involving data breaches, the businesses reported their reputation was negatively affected. When asked what the biggest hurdle would be for their organization to respond to a data breach, 51% said lack of knowledge and 41% a lack of resources.

The financial impact of a data breach proved considerable as well, according to HSB’s poll, as 27% of the businesses spent between $5,000 and $50,000 to respond and 30% spent between $50,000 and $100,000.