Compromised credentials led to compromised data: Stolen user credentials were the most common root cause of breaches in the study.Healthcare breaches cost the most by far, at $9.23 million per incident – a $2 million increase over the previous year. Healthcare breach costs surged: Industries that faced huge operational changes during the pandemic (healthcare, retail, hospitality, and consumer manufacturing/distribution) also experienced a substantial increase in data breach costs year over year.Breaches cost over $1 million more on average when remote work was indicated as a factor in the event, compared to those in this group without this factor ( $4.96 vs.

Remote work impact: The rapid shift to remote operations during the pandemic appears to have led to more expensive data breaches.The annual Cost of a Data Breach Report, conducted by Ponemon Institute and sponsored and analyzed by IBM Security, identified the following trends amongst the organizations studied: 1 The new findings released today suggest that security may have lagged behind these rapid IT changes, hindering organizations' ability to respond to data breaches. Businesses were forced to quickly adapt their technology approaches last year, with many companies encouraging or requiring employees to work from home, and 60% of organizations moving further into cloud-based activities during the pandemic.

Data breach