Average cost of data breach in India reaches all-time high in 2023, finds IBM security report

According to the latest report from IBM security, the average cost of a data breach in India has soared to an all-time high in 2023, reaching $2.18 million. This represents a significant increase of nearly 28% since 2020, raising concerns about the rising threat of cyberattacks in the country.

The report revealed that the most common attack in India was phishing, accounting for nearly 22% of data breaches. Following closely behind were incidents involving stolen or compromised credentials, constituting 16% of reported breaches.

The Cost of a Data Breach Report 2023 highlighted that social engineering emerged as the most expensive root cause of breaches, with costs averaging $2.23 million. Malicious insider threats were the second most costly at nearly $2.2 million. These findings underscore the importance of reinforcing cybersecurity measures and organizational employee awareness.

Using AI to detect data breaches

The study also shed light on the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automation in detecting and containing breaches swiftly. Surprisingly, the report disclosed that almost 80% of Indian organizations participating in the study had limited (37%) or no use (43%) of AI and automation.

Organizations in India that had embraced extensive AI and automation experienced a significantly shorter data breach lifecycle of 225 days compared to the 378 days for those without these technologies. Furthermore, deploying security AI and automation resulted in data breach costs that were approximately $1.27 million lower, making AI and automation the most substantial cost-saving factor.

Out of the breaches analyzed in India, 28% resulted in the loss of data across various environments, including public cloud, private cloud, and on-premise systems. This indicates that attackers were skilled at compromising multiple environments, evading detection, and making the breach identification and containment process more challenging.

The report emphasized that when breached data was stored across multiple environments, the associated breach costs were the highest, averaging $2.19 million. Additionally, it took organizations 327 days to identify and contain such breaches.

How to handle data breach cost

As the frequency and cost of data breaches continue to rise globally, businesses are strategizing how to cope with this growing challenge. The report revealed that 95% of organizations worldwide had experienced more than one breach. Interestingly, these organizations are considering passing the incident costs onto consumers, with 57% opting for this approach instead of increasing investments in security, chosen by 51% of respondents.

The findings of the IBM Security report have raised concerns within the cybersecurity community and highlighted the critical role of AI and automation in defending against data breaches. As cyber threats become more sophisticated, organizations in India and worldwide must prioritize cybersecurity measures to protect sensitive data and mitigate financial losses.

WRITTEN BY

Team Eela

TechEela, the Bedrock of MarTech and Innovation, is a Digital Media Publication Website. We see a lot around us that needs to be told, shared, and experienced, and that is exactly what we offer to you as shots. As we like to say, “Here’s to everything you ever thought you knew. To everything, you never thought you knew”