In nearly every AI security incident, the affected company lacked access controls for its AI systems. That's the finding of IBM's Cost of a Data Breach Report 2026, based on research by the Ponemon Institute across 602 companies. Among firms that experienced an AI-related incident, 92 percent had inadequate access controls in place.

The problem rarely starts with the model itself: In about one in five affected companies, the entry point was a compromised API, a connected application, or a misconfigured cloud service. Whether a company runs an open-source or proprietary model made almost no difference.

IBM traces the gaps back to basic oversights that don't require sophisticated attackers to exploit. Incidents involving AI cost an average of $5.33 million, compared to $4.70 million for those without an AI component. The global average across all data breaches rose 12 percent to $4.99 million. When attackers themselves used AI, costs jumped to $6.04 million. Without AI, they came in at $5.03 million.

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