That’s a 10 percent jump compared to 2023 – and a reminder why a sound data security strategy is as important as ever.

A Few More Data Breach Statistics

While the $4.88 million average cost of a data breach is a staggering number alone, IBM reported other statistics that could help guide your security strategy discussions.

• 35 percent of breaches involve shadow data.
• The average cost of a malicious insider attack is $4.99 million.
• 46 percent of breaches involve customer data.
• The industrial sector had the largest cost increase of any industry with a breach costing $830,000 more per breach in 2024 than 2023.

Check out more in IBM’s report for a closer look at their latest data breach research.

Understanding how breaches occur is a critical step toward protecting your company’s data and choosing a solution that fits your unique needs. Using this data, it’s easy to see that better data discovery, greater insight into insider activity and a solid grasp of industry-specific challenges are fundamental areas that a wide range of organizations can improve on.

Defend Against Top Data Security Threats

A few months ago, we explored the top security threats and how to stop them. That blog covered ways to defend against threats such as malware, social engineering and cloud security threats to name a few from the list. Below are highlights of our offerings that could help you reduce risk in your company.

• Safely Surf the Web with Forcepoint ONE Web Security

Forcepoint ONE Web Security helps you securely access any website or download any document while getting the high-speed performance your team relies on.

We all need to be resilient against malicious websites, especially when adopting technologies like AI. Forcepoint ONE Web Security gives you the guardrails your users need.

Apply web security policies in the cloud or on the endpoint with distributed enforcement for secure, high-speed access to the web, wherever your people are.

• Safeguard Data in any Cloud App with Forcepoint ONE CASB

My favorite thing about Forcepoint ONE CASB is that it further protects distributed data. It offers Zero Trust access to cloud applications with continuous control of business-critical data, no matter where users are or what device they use.

Sensitive data is difficult to control in the cloud – especially on apps you don’t know about. Forcepoint ONE CASB secures any cloud application, not just the most popular ones, to ensure consistent security across your organization.

• Extend Policies from a Single Platform with Forcepoint ONE Data Security

You can better manage policies and remediate incidents across cloud, web, email and endpoint with Forcepoint ONE Data Security.

Given the rising costs of data breaches, we know that deploying security measures quickly is a top priority. That’s why we help streamline policy configuration and management with 1,700+ pre-defined classifiers and policy templates—the most in the industry.

Talk with an expert to learn how you could reduce risk and cut costs today.