Interactive: Calculating the Cost of Cybercrime in Latin America

Two hundred and thirty-eight dollars. That’s the average cost per record for a data breach in Mexico, according to the Norton Report. Calculating the actual cost of a data breach in each country, though, is no easy matter. Data varies considerably as do methodologies. There is often a lack of consistency with studies failing to provide data for the same countries over a three year period, and data on all countries not available.

Using data from the 2015 Cost of Data Breach Study: Global Analysis, the Latin American and Caribbean Cybersecurity Trends and Government Responses, Latin American and Caribbean Cybersecurity Trends 2014, and Net Losses: The Global Cost of Cybercrime, the interactive below examines the costs of data breaches in selected Latin American countries. Unfortunately pubic data on other countries is not available.

Hover over the country to see the data.

Despite the high annual costs of cybercrime for Brazil and its increasing number of data breach incidents, it still ranks third in the region in terms of cybersecurity readiness, according to the ITU Global Cybersecurity Index, just behind the United States and Canada. Globally it is ranked fifth.

Data on Argentina is difficult to access, although the South American country has reported high levels of cybercrime, placing it in the top 20 countries for such security breaches. It is ranked 6th in the region for cybersecurity readiness, though.

Mexico accounts for two percent of all cybercrime incidents, according to Symantec, and these incidents cost the country $3 billion annually. It is ranked 9th in the region for cybersecurity readiness, and 18th globally.