The Ponemon Institute released their annual “U.S. Cost of Data Breach Study”, which found the average data breach cost rising from $6.65 Million in 2008 to $6.75 Million last year.  From Network World:

In tallying the cost of a data breach, Ponemon Institute looks at several factors including: the cost of lost business because of an incident; legal fees; disclosure expenses related to customer contact and public response; consulting help; and remediation expenses such as technology and training.

The study found that companies that have a CISO or similar position did much better at managing data breach costs.

Network World also has the 2009 Data Breach Hall of Shame.

Data Security