Business EconomyPosted at: Aug 4 2026 1:25PM


India's data breach cost hits record Rs 25.5 crore: IBM

Bengaluru, Aug 4 (UNI) India's average cost of a data breach rose to a record Rs 25.5 crore in 2026, a 15.9 per cent increase from Rs 22 crore last year, as cyberattacks became more sophisticated with growing use of artificial intelligence (AI), according to IBM's 2026 Cost of a Data Breach Report released on Tuesday.
The report said the average number of compromised records per breach also increased to 39,500 in 2026 from 38,200 in 2025, highlighting the growing scale of cyber incidents.
It found that 26 per cent of malicious breaches in India were AI-generated, reflecting the increasing use of AI by cybercriminals to launch faster and more scalable attacks.
However, AI adoption in cybersecurity remains limited. Only 32 per cent of Indian organisations reported extensive use of AI and security automation, while 36 per cent had limited deployment and 32 per cent reported no use at all.
According to the report, organisations without AI and security automation suffered the highest average breach cost of Rs 31.6 crore, compared with Rs 21.3 crore for organisations with extensive deployment. Breaches also took significantly longer to identify in organisations without AI-enabled security, averaging 236 days compared with 175 days for those with extensive automation.
Shadow AI, referring to unauthorised use of AI tools within organisations, added an average Rs 1.79 crore to the cost of a breach, making it one of the leading cost-increasing factors along with regulatory non-compliance and cloud migration.
Among sectors, financial services recorded the highest average breach cost at Rs 40.9 crore, followed by technology at Rs 35.7 crore and communications at Rs 34.5 crore.
Phishing, including voice and SMS phishing, remained the leading attack vector, accounting for 19 per cent of breaches, followed by drive-by compromise (16 per cent) and supply chain compromise (15 per cent).
The report said offensive security measures such as red teaming and penetration testing delivered the highest cost savings, reducing breach costs by an average Rs 2.47 crore. Proactive threat hunting and AI governance technologies also helped minimise losses.
Nearly 73 per cent of organisations surveyed said they planned to increase investments in cybersecurity after experiencing a breach. Their top priorities include incident response planning, threat detection and response technologies, identity and access management, AI security and governance tools, and employee awareness programmes.
Commenting on the findings, Gaurav Agarwal, Vice President, Technology, IBM India & South Asia, said organisations that integrated AI with strong governance across the security lifecycle were better equipped to counter evolving cyber threats and improve resilience.
The report, conducted by the Ponemon Institute and sponsored by IBM, analysed breaches experienced by 602 organisations globally between March 2025 and February 2026.
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