Cost of a Data Breach Report 2026: Healthcare Edition

Healthcare IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report 2026

The healthcare data breach report for 2026 is now available to download. It breaks down exactly what healthcare organisations are up against this year, and where the sector stands compared to everyone else.

Healthcare data breaches cost more than any other industry. This edition breaks down the numbers specific to healthcare, so you can see exactly where the sector stands and what’s driving the cost.

What you’ll get

This is a focused, sector-specific summary pulled from IBM’s 2026 Cost of a Data Breach Report, covering:

• The average cost of a healthcare data breach, and how it compares to the global average
• How long it takes healthcare organisations to identify and contain a breach
• The root causes behind healthcare breaches, from malicious attacks to human error
• The top three ways attackers are getting in, ranked by share of incidents

Why it’s worth ten minutes

Healthcare has held the highest breach cost of any industry studied for years running. If you work in security, IT or compliance in this sector, these figures give you a clear, current benchmark, useful for board conversations, budget cases, or simply knowing where your organisation sits against the sector average.

The numbers also help put the risk in context. A breach in healthcare doesn’t just carry a financial cost, it can affect patient care directly, which is part of why the sector consistently costs more to recover from than any other.

Download the report now

Read more:

Blog: Healthcare data breach costs just hit $6.64 million. Here’s why

Note:
This edition is drawn from IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach Report 2026, the annual global study conducted by the Ponemon Institute.