Data breaches still a growing risk within credit union industry

With recent high-profile data breaches occurring this year, organizations are experiencing an entirely new risk level of data theft and security. At this year’s Discovery Conference, CUNA Mutual Group’s Jay Morgan and Beazley Group’s Katherine Keefe discussed how these major data breaches offer a harsh reminder that credit unions are not immune to this growing risk.

Morgan, director of product management at CUNA Mutual Group, said the explosion of mobile devices and technology advances have significantly increased this risk, especially in financial services industries. In 2013, cyber risk incidents totaled more than 61,000, of which more than 800 were with financial services organizations.

“You work hard to earn the trust of your members, and every cyber incident attempts to erode that trust,” said Morgan. “The potential loss or impact to a credit union ranges from hard costs in revenue, legal fees, IT and operations to significant losses in customer loyalty, brand reputation, and employee morale.”

The average total cost of a data breach today is approximately $3.5 million, with the average cost of customer notification reaching almost $510,000.

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