ARMONK, N.Y., July 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- One in four malicious breaches were 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. When organizations have an extended gap between discovery and remediation, that imbalance shows up directly in breach costs," said Suja Viswesan, VP, IBM Security Software. Financial services breaches were reported to cost on average $6.3 million, while energy breaches cost on average $5.2 million. More than 20% of organizations reported a breach targeting AI models or applications. More than 20% of organizations reported a breach targeting AI models or applications.