More than three-quarters of 156 major Australian organisations surveyed had experienced some form of data breach and approximately two-fifths had experienced between six and 20 known data breaches in the past five years, according to Symantec's Data Loss Prevention Survey.
The average cost of a single data breach was wide-ranging, with 34 per cent of companies spending less than $4,999, 14 per cent paying between $100,000 to $999,999 and seven per cent estimating the cost at more than $1 million.
Mid-market manager for Symantec Australia and New Zealand, Steve Martin, said data breaches had more than just financial consequences for companies.
"While data breaches can be very costly in financial terms, they also come at a price to the business' reputation and customer confidence," Martin said in a statement.
"Australian organisations indicated a loss of reputation and brand as well as decreased customer loyalty and trust as significant business costs caused by data breaches."
Diminished revenue and staff morale were also reported as additional costs, Martin said.
The survey found Australian businesses were most prone to losing customer records at 55 per cent, intellectual property at 43 per cent, bank and credit card details at 21 per cent and financial information 20 per cent.
The primary culprits were lost laptops and accidental human error, while hacked systems and actions by malicious insiders accounted for only 29 and 28 per cent of breaches respectively.
Vice president and managing director of Symantec Australia and New Zealand, Craig Scroggie, said businesses are struggling to secure their confidential information in the digital age.
"With the proposed amendments to the Federal Privacy Act, Australian businesses are becoming more aware of their obligations to secure and manage customer, employee and company confidential information," Scroggie said in a statement.
"However, easy access to and dissemination of the growing volume of information together with an increasingly mobile workforce means Australian organisations are finding it harder than ever to prevent the loss of sensitive data."
