AI Plays Crucial Role in Reducing Impact of Cyber Breaches
for Canadian Organizations
- Canadian organizations pay an average cost of CA$6.32 million
per data breach.
- Financial sector pays $9.28
million on average per breach, the technology sector is
paying $7.84 million on average, and
the industrial sector pays $7.81
million on average.
- Organizations with extensive use of security AI and automation
report costs of CA$2.84 million less and 54-day shorter breach
lifecycles.
MARKHAM,
ON, July 30, 2024 /CNW/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM)
today released its annual Cost of a Data Breach Report,
revealing that Canadian organizations are paying an average
cost of CA$6.32 million per data breach in 2024, as breaches
grow more disruptive and further expand demands on cyber teams.
Financial services and technology companies experienced the
costliest breaches, with average costs of CA$9.28 million and
CA$7.84 million, respectively. Phishing attacks were the most
common type of initial attack vector, representing 14% of incidents
and costing an average of CA$6.38 million per breach.
The report highlights the importance of Artificial Intelligence
(AI) in cybersecurity. The findings show that 61% of Canadian
companies are now deploying security AI and automation to prevent
and combat breaches, which has led to a reduction in breach costs.
In fact, organizations with extensive use of AI and automation in
their security operations had breach lifecycles that were 54 days
shorter and cost CA$2.84 million less on average compared to
companies not using these technologies.
"The findings of this report underscore the business imperative
for companies to integrate AI and automation into their
cybersecurity programs to reduce both the financial impact and
business disruption of cyber breaches," said Daina Proctor, IBM Canada Security Service Line
Delivery Leader. "Canadian organizations that invest in AI and
automation will be better equipped to detect and recover from
breaches, reducing the significant costs associated with these
events."
According to the 2024 report, threat intelligence, employee
training and identity and access management (IAM) were identified
as key factors in helping to reduce data breach costs.
The report also drew attention to the importance of proper
storage and management of data. 33% of breaches involved data
stored across multiple environments and 31% involved data stored
solely on the public cloud. Breaches solely involving the public
cloud were also the most expensive to remediate, at CA$6.74 million
on average.
Other global findings in the 2024 Cost of a Data Breach
Report include:
- Stolen credentials topped initial attack vectors –
At 16%, stolen/compromised credentials was the most common initial
attack vector. These breaches also took the longest to identity and
contain at nearly 10 months.
- Fewer ransoms paid when law enforcement is engaged
– By bringing in law enforcement, ransomware victims saved
on average nearly US$1 million in
breach costs compared to those who didn't – that savings excludes
the ransom payment for those that paid. Most ransomware victims
(63%) who involved law enforcement were also able to avoid paying a
ransom.
- Critical infrastructure organizations see highest breach
costs – Healthcare, financial services, industrial,
technology and energy organizations incurred the highest breach
costs across industries. For the 14th year in a row,
healthcare participants saw the costliest breaches across
industries with global average breach costs reaching US$9.77 million.
- Breach costs passed to consumers – Sixty-three
percent of organizations worldwide stated they would increase the
cost of goods or services because of the breach this year – a
slight increase from last year (57%) – this marks the third
consecutive year that the majority of studied organizations stated
they would take this action.
The 2024 Cost of a Data Breach Report is based on an in-depth
analysis of real-world data breaches experienced by 604
organizations globally between March
2023 and February 2024. The
research, conducted by Ponemon Institute, and sponsored and
analyzed by IBM, has been published for 19 consecutive years and
has studied the breaches of more than 6,000 organizations, becoming
an industry benchmark.
Additional Sources
- Download a copy of the 2024 Cost of a Data Breach Report.
- Sign up for the 2024 IBM Security Cost of a Data Breach webinar
on Tuesday, August 13, 2024, at 11:00 a.m. ET.
- Read more about the report's top findings in this IBM Security
Intelligence blog.
- For more information about IBM Canada, visit
www.ibm.com/ca-en
Media Contact:
Lorraine
Baldwin
IBM Canada Communications
lorraine@ca.ibm.com
Media Resources: B-Roll
SOURCE IBM