Data breach costs reach all time high - report

IBM’s new Cost of a Data Breach Report highlights the impact data breaches are having

The global average cost of a data breach has reached an all-time high of $4.35m, according to new research.

IBM's new Cost of a Data Breach Report shows 60 per cent of studied organisations raised their product or services prices due to breaches, when the cost of goods is already soaring worldwide amid inflation and supply chain issues.

It also found that 83 per cent of those surveyed experienced more than one data breach in their lifetime, and that nearly 50 per cent of breach costs were incurred more than a year after the breach.

Partners - go on the offensive

"Businesses need to put their security defences on the offense and beat attackers to the punch," said Charles Henderson, Global Head of IBM Security X-Force.

"It's time to stop the adversary from achieving their objectives and start to minimise the impact of attacks. The more businesses try to perfect their perimeter instead of investing in detection and response, the more breaches can fuel cost of living increases."

Other key findings of the report include almost 80 per cent of critical infrastructure organisations saying they have not adopted zero trust strategies, and that the average breach outlay has now risen to $5.4m - a $1.17m increase compared to those that do.

The report also highlights that 45 per cent of studied breaches occurred in the cloud, although 43 per cent of reporting organisations stated they are just in the early stages or have not started implementing security practices to protect their cloud environments.

Ransomware

Ransomware victims in the study that opted to pay threat actors' ransom demands saw only $610,000 less in average breach costs compared to those that chose not to pay - not including the cost of the ransom.

"This report shows that the right strategies coupled with the right technologies can help make all the difference when businesses are attacked," Henderson added.