Leading law firm Mishcon de Reya has contributed to Verizon's annual Data Breach Investigations Report, providing key data based on the firm's cases.

Mishcon de Reya Cybercrime Partners Hugo Plowman and Rob Wynn Jones also feature in the report, offering legal insight on why there needs to be tougher penalties for data breaches.

They stress:"There is widespread confusion and enhanced regulatory risk as businesses are forced to comply with radically different laws as their data passes from one country to the next" and that there is "still a long way to go before the scale and rate of cyberattacks is brought under control by effective legislation".

Hugo adds: "We know from the work we do for our clients how important it is to be prepared for data breach, and the need to act quickly in the event that one occurs. Many incident response plans focus on containment and mitigation. It is of course important for a business to contain the problem and mitigate against further damage following a data breach, but there are legal steps that can be taken to identify hackers, recover data and prevent its misuse that are presently being overlooked by some businesses. Asset recovery action should be part and parcel of any crisis response plan."