This year’s study examines the costs incurred by 62 U.S. companies in 16 industry sectors after those companies experienced the loss or theft of protected personal data and then had to notify breach victims as required by various laws. It is important to note the costs presented in this research are not hypothetical, but are from actual data loss incidents. They are based upon cost estimates provided by individuals, interviewed over a ten-month period in the companies that are represented in this research