Threat Management

Data breach costs reach record high

Data security breaches have cost $4.35 million per incident on average this year, which was 2.6% higher than last year and the highest on record, ZDNet reports. U.S.-based organizations had the highest average breach costs at $9.44 million, followed by those in the Middle East, Canada, the U.K., and Germany, according to IBM's 2022 Cost of Data Breach report. Most data breaches have been attributed to stolen or compromised credentials, with such breaches costing $4.5 million on average and taking 243 days and 84 days to identify and contain, respectively. Meanwhile, healthcare had the highest average breach cost across all industries at $10.1 million, followed by the financial services, pharmaceutical, technology, and energy sectors. However, the report also showed that zero-trust security implementation was associated with $1.17 million lower average breach costs among critical infrastructure organizations, while security artificial intelligence and automation tool adoption correlated with $3.05 million lower breach costs.

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