Nearly 80 million Americans were impacted when Anthem was the target of hackers in February 2015. Prior to the Anthem hack, during the 2013 holiday season Target experienced a breach exposing over 40 million credit cards and the personal identifying information of over 110 million people. In March 2015, Target agreed to pay $10 Million to settle class action litigation arising out of the breach (paying up to $10,000 to individual victims). In March 2015, Target agreed to pay $10 Million to settle class action litigation arising out of the breach (paying up to $10,000 to individual victims).1 Data breaches like this leave consumers wondering how far the damage will go and leave companies struggling to protect the data of their employees and customers.

It is impossible to conduct business in this day and age without utilizing online data access and storage. One study suggests that companies that fall victim to cyber-crime suffer an average $7.6 million in damages, with a range from $0.5 million to $61 million per breach.2 The most costly attacks tend to come from insiders such as disgruntled employees and in the form of web-based attacks. A careful risk prevention policy will review a system's vulnerabilities and allocate resources to shore up the defenses, however, breaches may still happen.

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