EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

Data breaches and cyber attacks can be devastating for a company as a whole. They can also deeply affect the lives of employees at the company, should job security come into question. Yet, new research shows that those on the chopping block might not be who you expect.

According to a global business study, 31 percent of data breaches have led to employees being laid off. But, TechRepublic reports, the surprising part is that it’s not just IT employees taking the heat. In North America, 32 percent of breaches led to a C-level leader, manager, or president losing their job. Breaking down the data by business size, results showed that non-IT employees lost their jobs in 29 percent of small-to-medium businesses and in 27 percent of large enterprises.

Looking at the scale of 2017 data breaches worldwide, the research findings indicated that 42 percent of businesses suffered a data breach last year, each costing companies $1.23M on average. What’s more, in the aftermath, TechRepublic writes, “35% of SMBs had trouble finding new customers as a result of the breach, and 38% of enterprises encountered the same problem.”

Knowing where you’re at risk and being attentive to shoring up your infrastructure can go a long way toward avoiding the blame game–and the customer drain.

Get the full story at TechRepublic.