Last year saw a 44% increase in global cyberattacks, according to a report from Check Point Software.

Those attacks can be costlier than ever for businesses. According to IBM, the global average cost of a data breach in 2024 was $4.88 million, up 10% from the year prior.

The United States had the highest average data breach cost, at $9.36 million. Healthcare and financial industries have the costliest data breaches, usually due to the sensitive nature of the data they collect.

Data breach costs include:

  • Lost business cost, which averaged $1.47 million in 2024
  • Detection and escalation costs, which averaged $1.63 million last year
  • Post-breach response costs, which averaged $1.35 million in 2024
  • Notification costs, which averaged $430,000 last year
Regulatory fines associated with data breaches are also on the rise. The number of organizations paying more than $50,000 in fines increased 22.7% last year. The number of those paying more than $100,000 was up 19.5%.

The slideshow above highlights reasons for some of the biggest data protection fines and settlements in 2024.

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