While data breaches have become more common, there is little evidence that companies that incur them experience a persistent decline in financial performance or security prices. Using new firm-level data between 2002 and 2018, this paper finds that firms experience a 26–29% increase in reputational intangible capital following an average data breach. However, the largest and most salient breaches are associated with a 5–9% decline in reputational intangible capital following a data breach. These effects are concentrated among firms in consumer-facing industries: smaller (larger) data breaches are associated with more positive (negative) effects. These results suggest that current regulatory guidance may not provide complete incentives for firms to invest in cybersecurity capabilities, particularly for small- to medium-sized breaches.

中文翻译：

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数据泄露会损害声誉吗？2002 年至 2018 年间来自 45 家公司的证据

虽然数据泄露变得越来越普遍，但几乎没有证据表明发生这些泄露的公司会经历财务业绩或证券价格的持续下降。本文使用 2002 年至 2018 年之间的新公司级数据发现，在平均数据泄露后，公司的声誉无形资本增加了 26-29%。然而，最大和最突出的数据泄露与数据泄露后声誉无形资本下降 5-9% 相关。这些影响集中在面向消费者的行业的公司中：较小（较大）的数据泄露与更积极（消极）的影响相关。这些结果表明，当前的监管指南可能无法完全激励公司投资于网络安全能力，特别是对于中小型违规行为。