IBM: Data Breach Costs Climb 10% Since Last Year, Average Reaches $4.9 Million

Data breach costs have increased 10% since last year, the biggest jump since the pandemic, reaching an average cost of $4.9 million.

That’s according to IBM’s annual Cost of a Data Breach Report. Seventy percent of breached organizations reported that the breach caused significant or very significant disruption.

The report is based on an analysis of real-world data breaches experienced by 604 organizations globally between March 2023 and February 2024.

Also, Zscaler’s annual ThreatLabz 2024 Ransomware Report shows an 18% increase in ransomware attacks year over year with the manufacturing, health care and technology sectors as top targets. The United States remains the top target of ransomware, experiencing nearly 50% of overall attacks, followed by the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada and France.

Reasons Behind Data Breach Costs Increase

According to IBM, lost business, and post-breach customer and third-party response costs drove the year-over-year spike in data breach costs, as the collateral damage has only intensified. The disruptive effects data breaches have on businesses are not only driving up costs, but are also extending the after-effect of a breach, with recovery taking more than 100 days for most of the small number (12%) of breached organizations that were able to fully recover.

Some key findings in the 2024 IBM report include:

Scroll through our slideshow above for a Q&A with Jennifer Kady, vice president of IBM Security, and more from Zscaler.