What the research shows
IBM's 2026 Cost of a Data Breach study, based on breaches at 602 organisations between March 2025 and February 2026, puts the global average cost of a breach at $4.99 million, up from $4.44 million in the previous edition.
AI is changing the economics. One in four malicious breaches in the study was AI-enabled, a 56% increase on the year before, and these cost an average of $6 million, about $1 million more than the global average. 62% of AI-driven attacks targeted critical infrastructure sectors. Breaches in financial services cost an average of $6.3 million, and in energy $5.2 million.
AI systems are targets too. More than 20% of organisations reported a breach targeting AI models or applications, most often through compromised APIs, applications or plug-ins (27%) or cloud misconfigurations affecting AI workloads (27%).
Basic controls still decide outcomes. Only 37% of breached organisations encrypt sensitive data both at rest and in transit, and 34% have visibility into their cryptographic assets. Reported ransomware incidents rose to 39% from 34%. Organisations using AI and automation in security operations saw breach costs almost $2 million lower on average, yet one in four has not adopted these tools.
A follow-up survey in May 2026 found that 85% of organisations plan to increase security spending after learning about the cyber capabilities of frontier AI models. More than half already use agents for threat detection and containment, but only 18% apply them to vulnerability management.
What comes next
- AI-enabled attacks are likely to keep growing as a share of malicious breaches.
- Security for AI systems, from APIs and plug-ins to cloud workloads, is becoming a standard part of breach risk assessments.
- Frontier AI models are prompting three-quarters of organisations to rethink how they deploy agents in security.
What it means for leaders
- Use AI and automation in detection and response, which IBM links to breaches costing almost $2 million less.
- Encrypt sensitive data at rest and in transit, and build an inventory of cryptographic assets.
- Secure the APIs, plug-ins and cloud configurations of AI applications as carefully as core systems.
- Include AI-enabled breach scenarios in risk and insurance decisions.
