Data breaches cost financial intuitions an average of $5.97 million in 2021 and 2022, with health care being the only sector with a higher cost per breach, according to a report released yesterday by IBM Security.
IBM commissioned a 12-month study of 550 organizations across multiple sectors as part of an annual report on data breaches. The cost of dealing with a data breach for financial institutions rose by $250,000 compared to a similar study conducted in 2020-2021. IBM defined financial services as banks, insurance and investment companies.
Across all sectors studied, the global average cost of a data breach reached an all-time high of $4.35 million, with breach costs increasing nearly 13% during the last two years of the report, IBM said. Health care organizations paid the most per breach at an average of $10.1 million.
Use of stolen or compromised credentials remained the most common cause of a data breach. One trend was an increase in the number of data breaches caused by ransomware, which accounted for 11% of breaches compared to 7.8% in last year’s report.
