IBM finds 92% of companies hit by AI security breaches lacked basic access controls

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.

IBM finds 92% of companies hit by AI security breaches lacked basic access controls 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. The 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. IBM 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. AI News Without the Hype – Curated by Humans Subscribe 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. Subscribe now IBM https://www.ibm.com/reports/data-breach