Internet attacks inflicting corporate losses of $2m a hit

Average revenue loss from Internet business disruptions is now almost $2 million per incident, according to a new report by research firm Aberdeen Group.

The 'Internet Business Disruptions Benchmark Report' suggests that large revenue losses from Internet-based business disruptions are on a collision course with huge increases in Internet usage for core business functions.

The huge cost of Internet-based business disruptions, such as viruses, spyware or worms, is causing organisations to shift strategy towards how to best overcome the problem.

The Aberdeen report finds that Internet usage is being ratcheted up for customer sales, customer service, procurement, sourcing, distribution, and fulfilment. In fact, 75 percent of all firms are increasing their usage of the Internet specifically for customer sales and service.

"Average revenue losses, not recovery costs, are driving firms to do something about business downtime from Internet business disruptions," said Jim Hurley, Aberdeen's vice president of risk, security, and compliance and author of the report. "Increasing usage of the Internet for these core business functions means that business disruptions from Internet security can seriously impact a company's revenue."

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