The total cost of a data breach for organisations in the Middle East reached SR29.9 million ($8 million) in 2023, an all-time high, said IBM Security in its annual Cost of a Data Breach Report.

This represents a 15% increase over the last three years and a marked 155.9% increase over the last decade. These figures highlight the importance of advanced solutions to protect businesses and entities across the Middle East in an increasingly connected world.

In the Middle East, four process-related activities drive the range of expenditures associated with an organisation's data breach. Lost business costs topped the list, reaching SR10.02 million. This was followed by post-breach responses at SR8.86 million, detection and escalation costs at SR8.36 million, and notifying relevant stakeholders at SR2.36 million.

Financial sector

The report highlights that the financial sector experienced the highest total cost of data breaches, reaching SR35.29 million. The region’s energy industry ranked second, reaching SR33.75 million, while the healthcare sector’s total cost of a data breach reached SR32.46 million.

At a time when digital transformation is reshaping the global economic landscape, presenting both opportunities and unprecedented challenges to businesses and organisations around the world, the IBM report outlines the scale and nature of security issues that Middle Eastern entities must contend with.

AI picks up speed

AI and automation had the greatest impact on the speed of breach identification and containment for studied organisations - showcasing the value of advanced technology and solutions to enhancing security. The 2023 report shows that organisations based in the Middle East that deployed security AI and automation extensively experienced significantly shorter data breach lifecycles — a total of 259 days. In stark contrast, organisations that did not deploy these technologies experienced data breach lifecycles of 393 days — 134 days more.

The report also states that organisations that deployed security AI and automation extensively saw, on average, SR12.22 million lower data breach costs than organisations that did not deploy these technologies.

“With the Middle East's rapid growth and development, there has been an increase in cyber-attacks,” said Saad Toma, General Manager, IBM Middle East and Africa. “Early detection and fast response can significantly mitigate the damage caused by a data breach. Investments in advanced threat detection and response technologies, using AI and automation, are essential for organisations to stay ahead of cybercriminals.”

Unprecedented challenges

“With each passing day, the global economic landscape grows more sophisticated, presenting new and unprecedented challenges for businesses to overcome,” said Fahad Alanazi, General Manager, IBM Saudi Arabia.

“This demands equally sophisticated solutions that are fully geared towards empowering organisations to scale the wide-ranging hurdles that line the road to lasting success. At IBM, we pride ourselves on pioneering world-class offerings that safeguard the people, entities and communities we serve. As data breaches become even more damaging and costly, these solutions are essential to helping businesses in the kingdom navigate the challenges of today’s economic environment.”

Additional key findings

•Phishing was the most common cause for data breaches - constituting 16% breaches experienced in the region and costing businesses and entities SR32.2 million. Unknown (zero-day) vulnerabilities accounted for 15%, while attacks through stolen or compromised credentials represented 13% of breaches experienced in the Middle East.

•Breaching Data Across Environments – Over 37% of data breaches studied resulted in data loss across multiple environments — showing that attackers could compromise multiple environments while avoiding detection. Data breaches impacting multiple environments also led to higher costs (SR33.20 million on average).

•Reducing the Cost of a Data Breach – The IBM report pinpoints AI and machines learning-driven insights and attack surface management (ASM) tools as two of the most essential factors that can be deployed to reduce the cost of a data breach, reducing costs by SR1.13 million and SR1.08 million respectively.

The 2023 Cost of Data Breach Report is based on an in-depth analysis of real-world data breaches experienced by 553 organisations globally (including 36 in Saudi Arabia and the UAE) between March 2022 and March 2023. The research, sponsored and analysed by IBM Security, was conducted by Ponemon Institute and has been published for 18 consecutive years.

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