The World's Largest Losses Due to Healthcare Data Breaches

Data misuse has become increasingly prevalent during the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, and the resulting losses are expected to swell.

An IBM Security report shows that the average total cost incurred due to data misuse reached US$4.24 million in 2021. This figure is up 9.8% compared to the previous year's US$3.86 million.

The healthcare sector suffered the most significant losses. IBM Security reported that the average total cost due to data misuse in this sector reached US$9.23 million in 2021, a 29.5% increase from the previous year's US$7.13 million.

This was followed by the financial sector, with a total cost of US$5.72 million. However, this figure decreased by 2.3% from the previous year's US$5.85 million.

Next was the pharmaceutical sector, with a total cost of US$5.04 million in 2021. This figure also decreased slightly by 0.3% from 2020's US$5.06 million.

The total cost of data misuse in the technology sector decreased from US$5.04 million in 2020 to US$4.88 million this year. Meanwhile, the total cost of data misuse in the energy sector fell sharply by 27.2%, from US$6.39 million in 2020 to US$4.65 million in 2021.

IBM compiled this report by involving 537 organizations spread across 17 industries and 17 countries. Although the sample size appears small, the companies selected for this study are considered representative.