{"slug": "ibm-finds-92-of-companies-hit-by-ai-security-breaches-lacked-basic-access", "title": "IBM finds 92% of companies hit by AI security breaches lacked basic access controls", "summary": "IBM's Cost of a Data Breach Report 2026, based on research by the Ponemon Institute across 602 companies, found that 92% of companies that experienced AI-related security breaches lacked basic access controls for their AI systems. The average cost of an AI-related breach was $5.33 million, compared to $4.70 million for breaches without an AI component, and the global average cost of all data breaches rose 12% to $4.99 million. When attackers used AI, costs averaged $6.04 million, versus $5.03 million when they did not.", "body_md": "# IBM finds 92% of companies hit by AI security breaches lacked basic access controls\n\n**In nearly every AI security incident, the affected company lacked access controls for its AI systems.** That's the finding of IBM's [Cost of a Data Breach Report 2026](https://www.ibm.com/reports/data-breach), based on research by the Ponemon Institute across 602 companies. Among firms that experienced an AI-related incident, 92 percent had inadequate access controls in place.\n\nThe problem rarely starts with the model itself: In about one in five affected companies, the entry point was a compromised API, a [connected application](https://the-decoder.com/one-tampered-chatgpt-link-could-spawn-a-rogue-ai-agent-that-took-orders-from-an-attacker-every-five-minutes/), or a misconfigured cloud service. Whether a company runs an open-source or proprietary model made almost no difference.\n\nIBM traces the gaps back to basic oversights that don't require [sophisticated attackers](https://the-decoder.com/hackers-hijacked-high-profile-instagram-accounts-by-simply-asking-metas-ai-chatbot-to-change-the-email/) to exploit. Incidents involving AI cost an average of $5.33 million, compared to $4.70 million for those without an AI component. The global average across all data breaches rose 12 percent to $4.99 million. When attackers themselves used AI, costs jumped to $6.04 million. Without AI, they came in at $5.03 million.\n\n```\nAI News Without the Hype – Curated by Humans\n\n\t\t\t\t\tSubscribe to THE DECODER for ad-free reading, a weekly AI newsletter, our exclusive \"AI Radar\" frontier report six times a year, full archive access, and access to our comment section.\t\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\t\tSubscribe now\n```\n\n[IBM](https://www.ibm.com/reports/data-breach)", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ibm-finds-92-of-companies-hit-by-ai-security-breaches-lacked-basic-access", "canonical_source": "https://the-decoder.com/ibm-finds-92-of-companies-hit-by-ai-security-breaches-lacked-basic-access-controls/", "published_at": "2026-08-03 15:47:08+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-03 16:16:21.450520+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-safety", "ai-policy"], "entities": ["IBM", "Ponemon Institute"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ibm-finds-92-of-companies-hit-by-ai-security-breaches-lacked-basic-access", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ibm-finds-92-of-companies-hit-by-ai-security-breaches-lacked-basic-access.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ibm-finds-92-of-companies-hit-by-ai-security-breaches-lacked-basic-access.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ibm-finds-92-of-companies-hit-by-ai-security-breaches-lacked-basic-access.jsonld"}}