The cost of the average data breach an IT contractor in the UK may be expected to deal with is $98 (£64), according to new research.

This is lower than in the US ($204), France ($119) and Germany ($177), the PGP Global Cost of Data Breach study showed.

The UK's average cost was also below the $142 average across the five countries, with a total cost of data breaches across the 133 organisations polled calculated at $257 million.

PGP indicated that the regulatory costs in the UK were below the average, because breach notification laws have not yet been fully introduced, unlike in the US.

Commenting on the findings, founder of the Ponemon Institute Dr Larry Ponemon said that the figures underline the growing cost of data breaches related to the introduction of such laws.

He said: "The US figures are testament to this and it's clear that, as and when breach notification laws are introduced across the rest of the world, other countries will follow the same pattern and costs will rise."

Last month, a PGP blog post suggested that hiring an IT contractor to help deal with data security should be a concern for small businesses as much as major industry players.