Report by IBM
Cost of a Data Breach Report 2025
Key Findings
8% of organisations reported not knowing if they had been compromised by an AI-related breach.
Security incidents involving shadow AI led to more personally identifiable information (65%) being compromised compared to the global average (53%).
Healthcare breaches remained the most expensive, averaging $7.42 million.
Organisations using AI and automation extensively throughout their security operations saved an average of $1.9 million in breach costs.
Of those compromised by an AI-related breach, 97% report not having AI access controls in place.
63% of organisations opted not to pay ransom demands last year, compared to 59% the year prior.
Organisations that used high levels of shadow AI observed an average of $670,000 in higher breach costs.
Security incidents involving shadow AI led to more intellectual property (40%) being compromised compared to the global average (33%).
The healthcare sector saw a $2.35 million reduction in costs compared to 2024.
60% of AI-related security incidents led to compromised data.
Organisations using AI and automation extensively throughout their security operations reduced the breach lifecycle by an average of 80 days.
Of the organisations that have AI governance policies in place, only 34% perform regular audits for unsanctioned AI.
The global average cost of a data breach fell to $4.44 million, marking the first decline in five years.
Among organisations that reported recovery following a data breach, most took more than 100 days on average to do so.
31% of AI-related security incidents led to operational disruption.
One in five organisations (which is 20%) reported a breach due to shadow AI.
63% of breached organisations either don't have an AI governance policy or are still developing one.
Less than half of those that plan to invest in security post-breach will focus on AI-driven security solutions or services.
Nearly half of all organisations reported that they planned to raise the price of goods or services because of a breach.
16% of breaches studied involved attackers using AI tools.
Only 37% of organisations have policies to manage AI or detect shadow AI.
The average cost of an extortion or ransomware incident remains high, particularly when disclosed by an attacker ($5.08 million).
Nearly all organisations studied suffered operational disruption following a data breach.
The average U.S. cost of a breach reached a record $10.22 million.
The global average breach lifecycle (mean time to identify and contain a breach, including restoring services) dropped to 241 days, a 17-day reduction from the year prior.
Breaches across the healthcare sector take the longest to identify and contain at 279 days, which is more than 5 weeks longer than the global average of 241 days.
Nearly one-third of organisations reported price increases of 15% or more due to a data breach.
13% of organisations reported breaches of AI models or applications.
There was a significant reduction in the number of organisations that planned to invest in security following a breach: 49% in 2025 compared to 63% in 2024.
Organisations that detected a breach internally observed a $900,000 savings on breach costs compared to those disclosed by an attacker.