Data breach cost reaches $4.99M as AI attacks surge

The global average cost of a data breach has reached a record high of $4.99 million, a 12% increase from the previous year, driven by a surge in sophisticated AI-enabled attacks. These findings, released on July 29, 2026, in the annual IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report, reveal that one in four malicious breaches over the past year involved artificial intelligence, a 56% year-over-year increase.

The research, conducted by the Ponemon Institute, analyzed breaches experienced by 602 organizations globally between March 2025 and February 2026. AI-enabled breaches cost an average of $6.04 million, roughly $1 million more than breaches without AI involvement. The rise is attributed to attackers using AI to increase the speed, scale, and precision of their operations, compressing the time defenders have to respond.

Deepfake impersonation accounted for 45% of AI-driven incidents, where attackers use convincing audio or video to impersonate trusted individuals. AI-enabled malware, which uses machine learning to evade detection, made up 19% of such attacks. Critical infrastructure sectors absorbed a heavy concentration of these threats, with financial services and energy companies facing...