International Business MachinesIBM's report highlights rising AI-enabled breaches and cost savings from AI security tools, boosting demand for IBM's security solutions.

One in four malicious breaches are now AI-enabled, a 56% increase over last year, and these breaches cost an average of $6 million, roughly $1 million more than the global breach average of $4.99 million, according to IBM's 2026 Cost of a Data Breach Report. More than 20% of organizations reported a breach targeting AI models or applications, with the most common causes being compromised APIs, applications, or plug-ins and cloud misconfigurations affecting AI workloads, each at 27%. Most AI-driven attacks targeted critical infrastructure sectors, with financial services breaches costing an average of $6.3 million and energy breaches costing $5.2 million. Companies that used AI and automation in security operations cut breach costs by an average of nearly $2 million, yet one in four organizations have not adopted these tools. In separate research, 85% of organizations plan to increase security spending after becoming aware of advanced frontier AI cyber capabilities, compared to 64% that plan to do so after experiencing a breach.
International Business MachinesIBM's report highlights rising AI-enabled breaches and cost savings from AI security tools, boosting demand for IBM's security solutions.