Business Visualizations
30 Statistics That Show the Alarming Reality of Data Breaches
Ooma’s new infographic shows that data breaches are a huge concern and much more common than we would like to think. Their new graphic offers 30 statistic-based facts that show us the harsh reality. Companies have limited time to react to data breaches before they hit the news cycle, and software developers have to stay on their toes to prevent security threats. Data breaches hand over customer contact details, proprietary software, and employee information to bad actors, so taking these threats seriously is of the utmost importance.
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Record High Levels of Financial Damage
The financial stakes of data breaches have never been higher. The data shows that in 2024, the average global cost of a data breach reached an all-time high of $4.88 million, a 10% increase. On average, American organizations bear the highest costs, at $9.36 million per breach. The U.S. healthcare industry is hit the hardest, with average data breach costs around $9.77 million.
Mega breaches incur the highest costs and the most damage. A mega breach involves over a million records and costs an enormous $375 million to rectify. The largest data breach was the Change Healthcare attack in February 2024, which exposed 190 million medical records and caused over $2 billion in damages. This was the largest medical data breach in American history.
Human Error Leads to Cyberattacks
55% of all data breaches are malicious attacks, with the remaining attacks split between human error and system failures. This shows that nearly half of breaches are due to internal vulnerabilities instead of being caused by the power of a sophisticated external attack. Out of all applications, Microsoft Office suffers 69.1% of cyberattacks, which means that everyday office tools can become a major target, taking advantage of employee vulnerability.
When someone inside an organization leads the attack, the expenses are highest, averaging $4.99 million. Ransomware is still a big danger, with the costs of attacks increasing by 500% between 2023 and 2024 and the average recovery cost around $2.73 million.
Delays in Detection and Containment
The amount of time it takes for organizations to detect a data breach is a bit shocking. It takes an average of 204 days to discover the breach and then another 73 days to contain it. That’s a nearly 10-month data exposure window. Most distressing is the fact that personal data breaches take the longest to detect and contain – an average of 292 days.
Recovery and Data Breach Prevention
The aftermath of a data breach remains a big challenge. Only 12% of businesses report making a full financial recovery after the breach. 70% of breached organizations have significant disruptions to business, and only 1% describe the breach as low-impact. Healthcare businesses have the longest-lasting effects with major damage to their reputation. They need to spend 79% more on marketing for the two years following a data breach. Strategic investments in cybersecurity offer stronger protection, and using AI in security operations can save around $2.2 million. Overall, this graphic emphasizes the importance of investing in strong cybersecurity.
Business Visualizations
New Collection of Cybersecurity of Tips and Statistics Highlights Importance for Business
Cybercrimes are an all-too-common occurrence that every modern business needs to protect itself from. The team at Ooma makes a compelling case for this with a new graphic packed full of information on cyberattacks and tips on cybersecurity. Data leaks and ransomware attacks can affect large and small businesses, leading to very real consequences that can impact customers. These attacks can destroy finances, disrupt operations for weeks, and damage the essential trust between customer and business.
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Cybersecurity is the protection of digital systems and networks from attacks that can involve phishing scams, malware installation, and data theft. Bad actors can be motivated by anything from financial gain to espionage and even the entertainment of a prank. Cybersecurity strategies allow businesses to protect themselves with a combination of data encryption, staff training, network security, and threat monitoring.
Businesses have to invest in strong cybersecurity, as we can see from global spending exceeding $1.25 trillion in 2025. This number doesn’t sound so high when cyberattacks are expected to cost the economy ten times that amount in the next year. The average cost of a data breach for companies is over $5 million, not including fines, reputation damage, and revenue loss.
Some areas of business are targeted more often than others. These sectors include:
- State institutions/political systems: 51.78%
- Critical infrastructure: 41.73%
- Corporate targets: 15.14%
- Social groups: 6.17%
- Media and education: Around 6% each
Attackers go after these sectors the most because daily life and economic stability depend on them, so they have high value to criminals and bad actors from other nations. Threats come in many forms, and to some extent, every message opened online is a risk, but these are the most common threats:
- Phishing: Fraudulent emails that trick employees into revealing passwords and sensitive data.
- Ransomware: Malicious software that blocks access to data and files until a ransom is paid.
- Malware: Software that’s damaging and gains unauthorized access to a system.
- Data breaches: Unauthorized individuals gain access to confidential information.
- Denial-of-service attacks: A server or network is purposely overloaded to become unavailable to users.
- Insider threats: Employees who maliciously or accidentally compromise security systems.
After making the threats clear, the Ooma team shared the best cybersecurity tips for businesses. Their list includes:
- Train employees to prevent cyber-attacks.
- Install antivirus software.
- Keep security software up to date.
- Use a firewall and data encryption to stay secure.
- Secure all Wi-Fi networks.
- Use strong passwords.
- Create user accounts for every employee.
- Enable multi-factor authentication.
- Back up important business data.
- Limit employee access to data and software installation.
- Restrict administrative privileges.
- Secure your payment systems.
- Protect business mobile phones.
- Monitor cloud service providers.
- Conduct regular cybersecurity audits.
The team’s chart, which is fully illustrated and easy to read, provides a wealth of information on their advice.
Business Visualizations
Study Analyzes How Company Age Shapes Remote Work Adoption
Before the Internet, the traditional workday happened on-site or in an office space. Businesses relied on face-to-face interaction in customer service and functions. Physical presences were needed to answer phones, greet clients, keep a filing system, and produce work. But high-speed internet access and video conferencing changed the face of the workday. Office-based work was no longer necessary. The COVID-10 pandemic pushed workers home by necessity, and once the danger passed, employees began to demand the continuing flexibility of a work-at-home schedule. However, not every company or business is ready to adapt.
The team at Ooma performed a comprehensive analysis of data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2022 Annual Business Survey. The findings revealed interesting patterns in how the age of a company influences its decision to offer remote work. The youngest companies, those under 2 years old, most commonly offered work-from-home options at 43.9%. The older the company, the fewer remote work options there were. Here are the statistics: 41.8% for businesses aged 2–3 years, 40.8% for 4–5 years, 40.4% for 6–10 years, 38.2% for 11–15 years, and 35.6% for companies with 16 or more years in operation.
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When studying why companies don’t adopt remote work, the primary obstacle was clear and consistent across companies of all ages. 56.8% to 69.1% of companies said that job incompatibility was the biggest barrier to remote work. Obviously, not all tasks can be performed remotely. After job incompatibility, companies cited security concerns as the biggest barrier to remote work. However, the younger the company, the less likely they were to have computer security concerns. Younger companies are more likely to rely on cloud-based work software with built-in security features.
After these two reasons, management complexity was the most common barrier. The larger the company, the more difficult managing remote workers might become. The most interesting category might have been the data on companies reporting “no limiting factors” to remote work. 39.7% of the youngest companies said there were no barriers and 27.6% of the oldest companies believed there were no barriers to offering remote work.
The team also examined the number of remote workers and changes over time. It was clear that the COVID-19 pandemic skyrocketed the number of remote workers. Only 23% of remote work-capable employees actually worked from home in 2019. By 2023, 35% of these employees worked from home, down from the pandemic peak of 38% in 2021. Although there was a peak in remote work at the height of the pandemic, it’s clear that remote work is much more common now than it was before the pandemic.
The findings point to newer companies having more willingness and capability to offer remote work, though large legacy businesses have the biggest staff and most resources to hire remote workers. However, they have the biggest challenges in adapting old systems to new ways of working, a task young companies don’t need to worry about.
Business Visualizations
Graphic Charts the Journey of America’s Richest Self-Made Women
For years, the billionaire club was dominated by the likes of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg, all men. However, this new infographic from the team at Ooma shows us that the landscape is changing and more women are reaching billionaire status on their own terms. From tech start-ups to fashion empires, savvy investments, and entertainment icons, the world of women billionaires is diverse and fascinating. This chart reveals how these women achieved their fortunes and how long it took.
The team used Forbes’ Self-Made Score to determine which women qualified as self-made, relying more on their own business efforts than any inherited wealth. The team only included women who scored an 8, 9, or 10 on the Forbes score to ensure that these billionaire women listed are truly self-made.
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The timeline shows dramatic differences in how long the billionaire journeys took. The range is incredible, from four years to 68. At the fastest end of the spectrum, we find Rihanna and Daniela Amodei, who both achieved a billion-dollar business in just four years. Rihanna’s journey transformed her from a pop star to a beauty mogul with the launch of her super-popular brand, Fenty Beauty. Daniela Amodei’s path was forged with the cutting-edge AI technology spearheading her company, Anthropic. We see throughout the chart that technology can drive rapid wealth generation.
The data reveals many patterns across industries, with tech entrepreneurs generally having the fastest timeline to billionaire status. AI and cloud computing led to fast wealth for Michelle Zatlyn, the founder of Cloudflare, who reached billionaire status after 14 years. Lucy Guo became the youngest female billionaire at age 30 thanks to her Scale AI platform.
Traditional industries are a reliable way to build a fortune but can have longer timelines. Diane Hendricks built ABC Supply into a $21.9 billion construction materials business over 26 years. Sara Blakely, creator of the popular functional fashion brand Spanx, has, after 22 years, proven that a niche market like shapewear can have lucrative results.
Entertainment figures follow their own patterns, as we can see from Taylor Swift, who took 18 years to transform her music into a billion-dollar brand. Oprah Winfrey’s talk show became a $3 billion venture after 17 years of work.
The most inspiring story on the graphic may be the remarkable journey of Alice Schwartz. After founding Bio-Rad Laboratories in 1952, she worked persistently for 68 years to reach billionaire status at age 98. This defies the stereotype that women’s opportunities vanish with age.
The team’s comprehensive data tells the story of dozens of remarkable women who found dramatic success through creativity, consistency, ingenuity, and the ability to take calculated risks. The team’s chart proves that gender, age, industry, or timeline don’t have to limit entrepreneurs.
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