India's Data Breach Costs Skyrocket as AI-Generated Attacks Surge
A new report from IBM has found that the average total organisational cost of a data breach in India has reached an all-time high, with AI-generated attacks causing significant damage. The '2026 Cost of a Data Breach Report' noted that 26% of malicious breaches in India are AI-generated, and the overall cost to organisations from these breaches stands at ₹255 million (around $2.7 million). This is a 15.9% annual increase, and globally, there is a 56% increase in AI-generated attacks, with an average global cost for organisations estimated at $4.99 million.
The report also found that healthcare, financial services, industries, and technology firms bear the brunt of most AI-generated cyberattacks. IBM's vice president, Gaurav Agarwal, noted that India's accelerating AI adoption is creating immense opportunities for innovation, but it is also enabling cyber threats to evolve rapidly.
The report highlights a trend of AI model inversion attacks, with an average cost of $6 million. It notes that attackers are not only using AI as a tool, but are also targeting the AI models and applications organisations are increasingly using. The report also found that breaches are getting more expensive to find and fix.