20+ Data Loss Statistics Business Must Know in 2024

Let’s begin by exploring some of the most important business data loss statistics and recovery in 2022 that every business must know.

Data Loss Statistics: Key Numbers

Downtime costs an average of $1,410 per minute for small businesses.
It takes around 206 days on average to detect a data breach.
The average cost of a data breach in 2021 was $4.24 million.
In 2021, there were 1,862 security breaches, which is an increase of 754 over the previous year.
The two most common causes of data loss are hardware failure (40%) and human error (29%).
Recently, 26% of companies experienced a data breach.
93% of companies that experience prolonged data loss go bankrupt.
Malware causes 35% of all data loss.
21% of files are not protected at all.
22% of small businesses close after a ransomware attack.

Sources: (IBM, Nasdaq)

Hardware malfunctions are the leading cause of data loss, accounting for 44% of incidents.
Human error accounts for 32% of data loss cases, making it the second leading cause.
Software corruption contributes to 14% of data loss occurrences.
Computer viruses are responsible for 7% of data loss incidents.
Natural disasters are the least common cause of data loss, accounting for 3% of cases.

51% of businesses that suffer data loss shutdown within two years.
43% of businesses that suffer data loss never reopen their doors.
93% of businesses that lose data for more than 10 days file for bankruptcy within a year.
More than 93% of companies that experience a 10-day or longer disruption to their data center due to a disaster file for bankruptcy within one year.

Sources: (Framework IT, LIMA)

440 healthcare providers reported breaches in 2021 affecting 500 or more individuals.
93 health plans experienced data breaches reported to the HHS in 2021.
Every 7 seconds, 10 individuals in the United States are affected by a healthcare data breach.
The average cost of a data breach to a healthcare organization is $9.2 million.
75% of reported breaches were due to hacking or IT incidents.
19% of breaches were due to unauthorized access or disclosure, 3% were due to theft, and 1% were due to loss.

25.90% of recovery efforts consume significant staff time.
13.8 percent of recovery costs the company money that wasn’t included in the budget.
9.60% of organizations report damage to their brand reputation due to data recovery issues.
9.2 percent of recovery efforts caused disruptions that had a significant impact on revenue potential.
7.10% of organizations suffer permanent losses as a result of data recovery challenges.

Sources: arcserve

60% of organizations in the United States in 2017 implemented training and awareness programs as a data loss prevention control.
55% of organizations expanded their use of encryption to prevent data loss.
49% of organizations employed endpoint security solutions to protect against data loss.
44% of organizations used identity and access management solutions to secure data.
39% of organizations added additional manual procedures and controls to prevent data loss.
36% of organizations utilized data loss prevention (DLP) solutions.
35% of organizations implemented security intelligence solutions to mitigate data loss risks.

Sources: (Statista)