Data breaches are becoming as lucrative as the global drug trade. Massive data breaches are almost a daily occurrence. The US-based Privacy Rights Clearinghouse reports that in the first eight months of 2015 there were 120 million personal records breached globally. This is up from 70 million for the full year of 2014.

Against this backdrop, a recent survey of boards by the University of North Carolina found that cyber breach was in the top three risks concerning directors. Anecdotally we know the same is true of boards in Australia.