The IBM's 2024 Cost of Data Breach Report reveals a significant increase in the cost of data breaches, with an average cost rising nearly 10% to $4.88 million. Business disruption is cited as the greatest contributing factor to this rise. AI-led attacks are also making breaches more frequent and harder to detect. The use of AI and automation extensively in security significantly reduces the cost of breaches, with organizations that used AI experiencing average breach costs of $3.84 million compared to those not using AI at $5.72 million.