A study released Wednesday shows the cost of a data breach is becoming increasingly expensive for firms—not so much because of the technological steps needed to fix the problem—but because the increasingly savvy public bails on the victim of the breach and takes their business with them. The study was conducted by privacy and information management research firm Ponemon Institute along with Vontu, the data loss prevention software developer recently acquired by Symantec, and PGP, makers of the Pretty Good Privacy security software. The study found that data breach incidents cost companies $197 per compromised customer record in 2007, compared to $182 in 2006. For a financial services firm, the cost was even more expensive at $239 per lost record. Most of the cost, $128 out of the $197, is from lost business and having to acquire new customers. This data, according to the study and some security experts, is starting to affect how companies operate.