The global average cost of a data breach fell from $4.88 million in 2024, a 9% decrease that now matches numbers seen in 2023. This is the 14th consecutive year that healthcare led all industries in highest average breach cost — even with a decrease from the $9.77 million average seen last year. For the first time in five years, the average costs associated with a data breach globally has fallen, dropping to $4.4 million, according to data from IBM. This is IBM’s 20th year of releasing data breach research and studied breaches at about 600 organizations between March 2024 and February 2025. Healthcare organizations on average took the longest to identify and contain breach incidents, needing 279 days to address attacks. IBM said organizations around the world are conducting shorter breach investigations — which push down the cost of detection that include assessments, audits, crisis management and more. Italy, Germany and South Korea all saw the cost of an average breach fall by at least 21%. IBM noted that the global average would have been lower if not for the numbers seen in the U.S. — which was 9% higher than last year. Researchers found that many countries outside of the U.S. saw a significant decrease in average cost.
This Cyber News was published on therecord.media. Publication date: Wed, 30 Jul 2025 16:35:47 +0000