In 2024, the average cost of a data breach skyrocketed to $4.88 million, up from $4.45 million in 2023, showing a 10% spike and the highest increase since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, some industries saw a much, much bigger increase than that. According to data presented by Stocklytics.com, the average data breach cost in the industrial sector surged by $860,000 year-over-year, the biggest increase among all industries.
Despite all the efforts to prevent cybercrime and considerable investments in security technology and solutions, data breaches cost companies much more than they did five years ago. Since 2019, the average breach cost has increased by almost $1 million and hit $4.88 million in 2024, according to research conducted by the Ponemon Institute and sponsored, analysed and published by IBM.
However, there are huge differences between the industries and countries, with some bearing a considerably higher cost of a breach than others or seeing much faster cost growth.
According to the survey conducted among 604 organisations across 17 industries and in 16 countries and regions impacted by data breaches between March 2023 and February 2024, the industrial sector has seen the biggest data breach cost growth in the past year.
In 2024, the average data breach cost reported by companies in this sector amounted to $5.56 million, the third-highest figure behind the healthcare and financial industry. However, this represents a $860,000 or 17.5% increase year-over-year, the highest among the 17 surveyed industries.
Statistics show two other sectors were close to these figures. The average breach cost in the tech industry jumped by 16.9% and hit $5.45 million in 2024. The retail market has also seen a 17.5% increase, but its average data breach cost rose by roughly half a million dollars and hit $3.45 million.
All other markets saw much smaller annual growth rates. For instance, the professional services, entertainment and hospitality sectors saw roughly a 13% data breach cost growth in the past year. The media and energy industry reported around a 10% increase, while pharmaceuticals, transportation and communication sectors followed with roughly 5%.
On the other hand, five sectors saw their average breach cost drop since 2023. The healthcare industry saw the biggest decrease of over $1.1 million or 10.6%. The education, research, financial and public sectors follow, with 4.1%, 3.5%, 2.9% and 1.9% drop, respectively.
Although the healthcare industry saw the biggest drop in the average data breach cost of more than $1.1 million, that wasn’t enough to remove it from the top costliest industry for breaches, a spot it has held for the past 13 years. Analysed by countries, that place still belongs to the United States. Although the average data breach cost in the United States dropped from $9.48 million to $9.36 million, that is still way more than in any other of the 16 surveyed countries and regions.
The Middle East was the only one close to the United States, with an average data breach cost of $8.75 million in 2024. Rounding out the top five were Benelux, Germany, and Italy with $5.9 million, $5.31 million and $4.73 million, respectively.
