{
    "question": "What is the average cost of a data breach?",
    "answer": "The average data breach cost $4.99 million worldwide and $11.5 million in the US, according to IBM's Cost of a Data Breach Report 2026, which studied 602 breached organizations with breaches from March 2025 to February 2026. The global figure is a record, up 12% from $4.44 million, and the US cost is about 2.3 times as high.",
    "period": "2026",
    "key_numbers": [
        {
            "value": "$4.99M",
            "label": "Global average cost of a data breach",
            "note": "IBM / Ponemon, 2026 report, up 12%",
            "stat": "cybersecurity/data-breach-cost-global-average"
        },
        {
            "value": "$11.5M",
            "label": "US average cost, the highest of any country",
            "note": "IBM / Ponemon, 2026 report",
            "stat": "cybersecurity/data-breach-cost-us-average"
        },
        {
            "value": "$6.64M",
            "label": "Healthcare, the costliest industry",
            "note": "IBM / Ponemon, 2026 report, 13th year on top"
        },
        {
            "value": "247 days",
            "label": "Average time to identify and contain a breach",
            "note": "IBM / Ponemon, 2026 report"
        },
        {
            "value": "43%",
            "label": "Security incidents involving shadow AI",
            "note": "IBM / Ponemon, 2026 report, up from 20%",
            "stat": "cybersecurity/shadow-ai-share-of-security-incidents"
        }
    ],
    "tables": [
        {
            "id": "by-country",
            "title": "Average cost of a data breach by country or region, 2026",
            "columns": [
                "Country or region",
                "Average cost"
            ],
            "rows": [
                [
                    "United States",
                    "$11.5M"
                ],
                [
                    "Middle East",
                    "$8.00M"
                ],
                [
                    "Benelux",
                    "$7.37M"
                ],
                [
                    "Canada",
                    "$5.20M"
                ],
                [
                    "Global average (all 16)",
                    "$4.99M"
                ],
                [
                    "Germany",
                    "$4.93M"
                ],
                [
                    "Latin America",
                    "$4.65M"
                ],
                [
                    "United Kingdom",
                    "$4.17M"
                ],
                [
                    "Italy",
                    "$4.12M"
                ],
                [
                    "ASEAN",
                    "$4.12M"
                ],
                [
                    "France",
                    "$4.05M"
                ],
                [
                    "Japan",
                    "$4.01M"
                ],
                [
                    "South Africa",
                    "$3.04M"
                ],
                [
                    "South Korea",
                    "$3.03M"
                ],
                [
                    "Australia",
                    "$2.96M"
                ],
                [
                    "India",
                    "$2.79M"
                ],
                [
                    "Brazil",
                    "$1.41M"
                ]
            ],
            "row_ids": [
                "country-us",
                "country-middle-east",
                "country-benelux",
                "country-canada",
                "country-global",
                "country-germany",
                "country-latam",
                "country-uk",
                "country-italy",
                "country-asean",
                "country-france",
                "country-japan",
                "country-south-africa",
                "country-south-korea",
                "country-australia",
                "country-india",
                "country-brazil"
            ],
            "note": "IBM country and region table, 2026 report, in US dollars. The US rose from $10.22M in the 2025 report. Germany rose 18% and Benelux 16%; South Africa had the biggest rise (22%) from a low base.",
            "source": "ibm"
        },
        {
            "id": "by-industry",
            "title": "Average cost of a data breach by industry, 2026",
            "columns": [
                "Industry",
                "Average cost"
            ],
            "rows": [
                [
                    "Healthcare",
                    "$6.64M"
                ],
                [
                    "Financial",
                    "$6.29M"
                ],
                [
                    "Industrial",
                    "$5.50M"
                ],
                [
                    "Technology",
                    "$5.50M"
                ],
                [
                    "Entertainment",
                    "$5.38M"
                ],
                [
                    "Pharmaceuticals",
                    "$5.25M"
                ],
                [
                    "Energy",
                    "$5.24M"
                ],
                [
                    "Services",
                    "$5.08M"
                ],
                [
                    "Communications",
                    "$4.71M"
                ],
                [
                    "Transportation",
                    "$4.50M"
                ],
                [
                    "Media",
                    "$4.49M"
                ],
                [
                    "Hospitality",
                    "$4.33M"
                ],
                [
                    "Consumer",
                    "$4.31M"
                ],
                [
                    "Education",
                    "$4.15M"
                ],
                [
                    "Research",
                    "$3.99M"
                ],
                [
                    "Retail",
                    "$3.80M"
                ],
                [
                    "Public sector",
                    "$3.50M"
                ]
            ],
            "row_ids": [
                "industry-healthcare",
                "industry-financial",
                "industry-industrial",
                "industry-technology",
                "industry-entertainment",
                "industry-pharma",
                "industry-energy",
                "industry-services",
                "industry-communications",
                "industry-transportation",
                "industry-media",
                "industry-hospitality",
                "industry-consumer",
                "industry-education",
                "industry-research",
                "industry-retail",
                "industry-public"
            ],
            "note": "Healthcare has had the highest average for 13 years in a row, but fell 10.5% from $7.42M in the 2025 report. Healthcare is only 2% of IBM's sample, so its average rests on few breaches.",
            "source": "ibm"
        },
        {
            "id": "by-data-type",
            "title": "Data stolen in breaches and its cost per record, 2026",
            "columns": [
                "Data type",
                "Share of breaches",
                "Cost per record"
            ],
            "rows": [
                [
                    "Customer personal data",
                    "52%",
                    "$192"
                ],
                [
                    "Employee personal data",
                    "35%",
                    "$188"
                ],
                [
                    "Intellectual property",
                    "32%",
                    "$196"
                ]
            ],
            "row_ids": [
                "data-customer-pii",
                "data-employee-pii",
                "data-ip"
            ],
            "note": "More than one type can be stolen in a breach. IBM says the per-record cost should not be multiplied out for breaches of millions of records: its breaches had 2,590 to 115,380 records.",
            "source": "ibm"
        },
        {
            "id": "ai-breaches",
            "title": "AI and data breaches, 2026 report",
            "columns": [
                "Measure",
                "2026 report",
                "2025 report"
            ],
            "rows": [
                [
                    "Security incidents involving shadow AI (staff using unapproved AI)",
                    "43%",
                    "20%"
                ],
                [
                    "Average cost of a breach involving shadow AI",
                    "$5.39M",
                    "$4.63M"
                ],
                [
                    "Organizations hit by a malicious attack that said it was AI-driven",
                    "More than 1 in 4 (up 56%)",
                    "Not stated"
                ],
                [
                    "Extra cost of an AI-driven attack",
                    "About $1M per breach",
                    "Not reported"
                ],
                [
                    "Organizations with an AI-related breach that lacked AI access controls",
                    "92%",
                    "Not reported"
                ]
            ],
            "row_ids": [
                "ai-shadow-share",
                "ai-shadow-cost",
                "ai-driven-share",
                "ai-driven-cost",
                "ai-access-controls"
            ],
            "note": "Deepfake impersonation was the most common AI-driven attack.",
            "source": "ibm"
        },
        {
            "id": "history",
            "title": "Global average cost of a data breach, every IBM report since 2019",
            "columns": [
                "Report year",
                "Global average cost"
            ],
            "rows": [
                [
                    "2019",
                    "$3.92M"
                ],
                [
                    "2020",
                    "$3.86M"
                ],
                [
                    "2021",
                    "$4.24M"
                ],
                [
                    "2022",
                    "$4.35M"
                ],
                [
                    "2023",
                    "$4.45M"
                ],
                [
                    "2024",
                    "$4.88M"
                ],
                [
                    "2025",
                    "$4.44M"
                ],
                [
                    "2026",
                    "$4.99M"
                ]
            ],
            "row_ids": [
                "hist-2019",
                "hist-2020",
                "hist-2021",
                "hist-2022",
                "hist-2023",
                "hist-2024",
                "hist-2025",
                "hist-2026"
            ],
            "note": "From the multi-year chart in the 2026 report. Each report covers breaches over roughly the 12 months before it (2026: March 2025 to February 2026), and each year has a different sample of organizations.",
            "source": "ibm"
        }
    ],
    "sources": [
        {
            "name": "Cost of a Data Breach Report",
            "publisher": "IBM (research by Ponemon Institute)",
            "type": "vendor",
            "url": "https://www.ibm.com/"
        },
        {
            "name": "Cyber Security Breaches Survey",
            "publisher": "UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT)",
            "type": "official",
            "url": "https://www.gov.uk/"
        },
        {
            "name": "Internet Crime Report (IC3 Annual Report)",
            "publisher": "FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center",
            "type": "official",
            "url": "https://www.ic3.gov/"
        }
    ],
    "content_changed_on": "2026-10-30",
    "page_url": "https://digitaltreed.com/statistics/cybersecurity/data-breach-cost",
    "csv_url": "https://digitaltreed.com/statistics/cybersecurity/data-breach-cost.csv"
}