August 5, 2015 - JPMorgan Chase is to double its cybersecurity budget over the next two years in the wake of a massive security breach last summer which saw the contact information of more than 80 million customers stolen.

In a quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, JPMorgan Chase says that in each of 2015 and 2016 it expects its annual cybersecurity spending budget to be nearly double what it was in 2014 in an effort to improve its perimeter defences. The move is expected to raise the annual spend to $500 million, up from the $250 million outlay in 2014.

In July 2014, the bank discovered that it had been the victim of a sophisticated and devastating attack on it systems after hackers exploited a zero-day vulnerability on its website to steal gigabytes of sensitive data. The compromised data - names, phone numbers, addresses and email addresses - affects 76 million households and seven million small businesses.

The breach has already led the company to deploy more than 1000 staff at a dedicated centre in Maryland to shore up its defences.

In Monday's filing the bank said the increased spending would go on "more robust testing, advanced analytics and improved technology coverage."