A study by Ponemon Institute shows that 43 companies suffered data breach last year. The total cost incurred on each breach increased to $6.6 million from $6.3 million. The cost was $4.7 million in 2006. The cost per compromised record in 2008 rose 2.5% as compared to 2007.

The survey also found that breaches ranged as high as 113,000 records and the average total cost per company ranged from more than $613,000 per breach to nearly $32 million. The survey also showed that most of the cost incurred by the companies was due to lost business. This averaged nearly $4.6 million.

Forty-four percent of the breaches occurred due to third party, such as a contractor or outsourcer. But more than 88 percent of all cases in 2008 involved incidents resulting due to negligence of company employees.

"Each company is like a case study," says Larry Ponemon, head of the research group, noting that these 43 companies volunteered to participate in the study, but Larry was not willing to reveal their names.

He also said that this was not the first time that these companies had experienced data breaches. However, the companies which faced the situation for the first time had to incur more loss.