A recent survey from computing giant Dell has demonstrated the skyrocketing financial costs of IT security breaches – and pointed out that many organisations still aren't doing enough to protect themselves from this threat.

Earlier this year, Dell surveyed more than 1,400 IT decision makers around the world – including 60 in Australia – from organisations with at least 500 employees or end users. It revealed that although security breaches place a staggering cost burden of AUD$27.5 billion per year on US organisations alone, there is still a high proportion of firms around the world that aren't factoring in the IT security risks from "unknown threats".

This new wave of threats stems from the rapid rise of new business technologies, including mobility, bring your own device (BYOD) policies, cloud computing and increasingly prevalent internet usage. Threats are also coming from internal sources, both accidental and malicious.

While Dell found that almost three-quarters of global organisations said they suffered from a security breach within the last year, fewer than one in five said they consider predicting and detecting these risks a top priority for security. Of particular worry is the finding that only around a third (37 per cent) of respondents felt these unknown threats would be a major security concern over the next five years.

Despite this apparent apathy towards one of the biggest risks to business, it appears that organisations are at least recognising the importance of appropriately training staff to meet these challenges. In fact, the survey revealed that two-thirds (67 per cent) of respondents said they increased funds for information security training and education over the last 12 months, while half stated that "security training for both new and current employees is a priority".

As the risks and consequences of IT security breaches becomes more advertised through such studies, it is likely that companies will up their security investment – with accredited staff training likely to be one of the wisest steps to implement.