One Prevented Breach Pays for Trusona for 10 Years

The True Cost of a Breach

Data breaches are more expensive than ever. The IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report 2023 found that the average global cost of a breach reached USD 4.45 million, up 2.3 % from 2022. This figure includes direct costs like detection, containment, legal fees and customer notification, as well as indirect costs such as reputational damage and lost business. In cases where ransomware disrupts operations, costs can skyrocket. The MGM Resorts breach in 2023 cost about US$100 million.

Much of this damage could be avoided if the initial attack vector, often a social‑engineering call, were thwarted. Considering that 50–90 % of attacks involve social engineering, investing in human‑layer defenses delivers a disproportionate return.

Why Help Desks Pose Huge Financial Risk

Help desks have broad powers to reset passwords and enroll MFA devices. When attackers convince agents to perform these actions, they effectively bypass technical controls. The cost implications include:

• Ransomware payouts and downtime – Attackers often deploy ransomware after gaining access. Downtime can cost millions in lost revenue and recovery expenses.
• Regulatory fines and lawsuits – Breaches involving sensitive data trigger penalties under laws like HIPAA, FERPA and GDPR. Lawsuits from affected individuals add further costs.
• Customer churn – Breached organizations lose customers due to diminished trust. Acquiring new customers to replace them is costly.
• Remediation expenses – Investigations, incident response, legal counsel and public relations cost significant resources.

Preventing the breach in the first place avoids these cascading expenses.

Calculating ROI of Help Desk Security

Return on investment (ROI) compares the cost of an investment to the benefit gained. For help‑desk verification, the benefit is the cost of breaches avoided. The calculation can be simplified:

Assume a breach would cost $4.45 million (the average). Implementing an advanced help‑desk verification solution like Trusona might cost a fraction of that over several years. If that solution prevents just one breach over a decade, the savings are substantial. Even accounting for implementation and maintenance, the ROI is well into triple digits.

Factors to consider in the calculation:

• Frequency of help‑desk interactions – The more resets your organization performs, the higher the risk and the greater the value of automation and verification.
• Likelihood of social‑engineering attacks – With 50–90 % of breaches involving social engineering, the probability of an attempt is high.
• Industry risk profile – Highly regulated sectors like healthcare, finance and education face larger fines and greater reputational damage.
• Existing security posture – If your organization already has strong technical controls but lacks human‑layer defenses, investing in help‑desk verification yields significant incremental improvement.

Why Prevention Delivers the Best Payback

Prevention is more cost‑effective than detection and response. EDR tools and incident response teams are necessary but address attacks after they occur. By contrast, help‑desk verification prevents attackers from gaining access in the first place. Benefits include:

• Avoided breach costs – Preventing a breach eliminates direct and indirect expenses. One prevented breach could fund security initiatives for years.
• Reduced insurance premiums – Demonstrating strong verification controls can lower cyber‑insurance premiums.
• Enhanced customer trust – Customers are more likely to remain loyal to organizations that protect their data.
• Improved compliance posture – Automated verification and audit trails simplify compliance with HIPAA, FERPA and other regulations.

Trusona delivers preventive controls, combining secure identity proofing, hardware‑bound MFA and policy enforcement to stop social‑engineering at the help desk. The platform logs every verification, ensuring a tamper‑proof audit trail.

Conclusion

The cost of data breaches continues to rise, and social engineering remains a dominant attack vector. Investing in help‑desk verification offers a high return by preventing attacks before they succeed. A single prevented breach can pay for a solution like Trusona many times over. By focusing on prevention, ensuring that only legitimate users can reset passwords and enroll MFA devices, organizations reduce financial risk, improve compliance and maintain customer trust. The numbers are clear: one prevented breach pays for Trusona for 10 years.